The Internship
by Simply Rexene
Summary: Film intern Roxas Smith had no idea what he was going to be walking into on his first day of work, so meeting pornstar Axel Marshall was definitely quite the shock for him. Will innocent Roxas be able to handle working in the porn industry? Or will he give up and miss out on what could be the best thing that ever happened to him?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello everyone! I'm back again with another new story. This one might be a little… off-color, but I think you'll like it! It involves super-sexy Axel, so… there's that.

Don't forget to leave me plenty of reviews if you like it!

…

 **Chapter One**

…

"Fucktwit!" Roxas laid on his horn as some asshole pulled out in front of him. He'd already sat through this light cycle three times, and this idiot was going to make him miss the arrow again. He had never driven through the city before, which had him completely on edge as people fucked with him like he didn't even exist.

"Oh sure, cut me off… I don't have anywhere to be!" his road rage had the best of him, and the heavy metal he was playing was really amping up his attitude. "Fuck… I'm going to be late…" he growled, glancing at the time left until he reached his destination on the GPS.

As if it wasn't bad enough that the only job he could find out of college was a shitty internship, he was about to be incredibly late to his first day on the job. When they said the film studio was located in the city, he hadn't thought much of it, but his several years of only driving on country backroads could never have prepared him for this hell.

"Fuck!" he yelped as someone nearly merged into his front end, his fist pounding on the horn as he flipped them off. When the GPS finally squawked that his destination was on the right, he nearly cried out in happiness. "Thank the fucking Gods…"

And then he had to find a parking spot, and one that he could fit his huge pickup tuck into. That took him a good five minutes in and of itself. Anddd… then there was the lengthy trek from his parking spot to the front door. If he wasn't a good half hour late by now, he'd be surprised.

As he approached the front door, he couldn't help but notice a cherry red Ferrari parked in the closest spot. "Damn…" he marveled, wondering if he was going to be working with some famous actors on the set. The job description had been incredibly vague on the internet, basically only stating that a film director was in dire need of an assistant. When he applied, they called him the next day and hired him on the spot without so much as an interview. He pretty much had no idea what he was walking into.

He stepped through the first set of glass doors, but when he went to pull on the second, they were locked. He noticed an intercom on the wall and pressed the button, "Uhm… hello?"

With a loud hiss, the intercom kicked on, "Yes?"

"I'm here for, uhm… my first day of work? I'm supposed to be assisting Director Kane?"

There was a pause, "…You're late. Come in."

A loud buzzer sounded and he heard the doors unlock, pulling them open and walking into a well-lit lobby. He approached the front desk nervously, where a small blonde girl sat. "Sorry I'm late… I'm not used to driving in the city."

"…Right. Xigbar isn't going to be happy, but that's your problem. Here's your badge, it'll unlock all the doors. They're in studio 7 right now, probably filming. Try not to be too loud when you walk in."

He took the badge that she flung at him carelessly, glancing around for any hint as to where studio 7 might be. "Uhm…"

"Through that tall white door, go right and it's the fourth door on the left," she didn't even look up as she answered him.

"Got it, thanks…"

He was almost through the door when she suddenly called out to him, "Hey!"

"…Yeah?"

"You _are_ over 18 years old, right?" she eyeballed him curiously, popping her gum.

He snorted, "I'm 22. Why?"

"Just had to make sure," she leaned back casually in her chair, returning her attention to her computer.

"…Kay…" he mumbled, disappearing through the door.

Luckily, the doors were clearly marked, and studio 7 wasn't hard to find. He held his badge up to the sensor and the door clicked open right away. However… what was on the other side was not at all what he expected.

His jaw dropped as his eyes settled on the set before him, where a tall man with flaming red hair was plowing a tiny black-haired girl on a couch. He couldn't tear his eyes away from it, it was like watching a train wreck. "Holy…" he trailed off as he took a step forward, walking directly into a craft services cart and sending a tray of sandwiches crashing to the ground.

And the entire studio, including the couple that was fucking, turned to stare at him in shocked silence.

"Who the hell are you?! What the hell are you doing in here ruining my shot?!" an incredibly angry, rather terrifying man came storming up to him.

"I…I'm… My name is Roxas… I'm the new intern?" he offered in a small squeak of a voice, flinching away from the man.

"Fuck… you were supposed to be here a half hour ago. What're you, stupid?"

Roxas swallowed heavily, "I… I got stuck in traffic. I've never driven in the city before…"

"Coffee. Two sugars, two creams. Now," the man narrowed his eyes on Roxas before walking back to the director's chair. He must be Xigbar Kane, though he didn't take the chance to introduce himself, or to tell Roxas what the hell was going on. Apparently he was supposed to figure that out himself.

…

Axel Marshall wasn't sure if he'd been half asleep while he was fucking this girl or if he was just really bored, but an ear-splitting crash coming from the back of the room scared the fucking shit out of him. He immediately stopped and pulled out of her, sitting back on the couch and looking for the source of the noise. It was difficult to see with the stage lights blinding him, but his eyes finally settled on a short, awkward looking guy standing frozen near the doorway with Xigbar approaching him quickly.

"Ugh… seriously?" the actress under him scooted up into a sitting position and crossed her arms over her chest, "Trying to work here!" she sang, shooting a glare in the direction of the new kid.

"Oh shut up, Xion," Axel rolled his eyes at her, wondering how he kept getting roped into doing movies with her.

She huffed a little and stood up, stark naked, walking off set to grab a bottle of water. One of the crew members immediately wrapped her in a plush robe, doing the same to Axel as he stepped off set.

He wrapped the ties of the robe around him, grabbing a water bottle and cringing as Xion walked up to the director, "Xiggy… will we have to do that scene again? You know how he bores me…"

Axel tried to ignore them, instead searching around for the new guy. He found the kid struggling to figure out how to work the coffee machine in the corner and, rather suavely, made his way over to him. "Sorry kid… Xigbar can be a jerk to the interns."

The blond nearly jumped out of his skin, whipping around to face the tall actor, "Uhm… You… I… Hello…?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?" Axel joked, though he could tell it went right over the kid's head. "…Nevermind. Is this your first job in the industry?"

The intern just nodded, the coffee cup trembling in his shaking hands.

"…They didn't tell you about the porn, did they?"

At the mention of the word 'porn,' Roxas dropped the cup and nearly choked on thin air, "The… the what?"

"Kid… I'm a pornstar. That's what Xigbar does… he directs pornos," Axel told him, leaning casually against the wall. He had to admit… this kid was kind of cute. Most of the people in this industry were just kind of… mean and creepy, but he just seemed innocent and adorable.

"I… I had no idea…"

"What's your name, kid?"

The blond stammered a bit, "R..Roxas… And I'm n…not a kid…"

"Well I would hope not. What're you, 18? 19?"

This seemed to embarrass him, "I'm 22… Why does everyone think I'm so young?!"

"Well, you've kind of got a baby face," Axel pointed out, smirking a little. "Name's Axel, got it memorized?"

"And you're a… p..p… You're in these films a lot?"

He nodded, "Pretty much every one that Xigbar directs. That's the wonderful thing about being bisexual and hot. They put you in almost everything."

Roxas swallowed hard, "Y…yeah… I guess that would be a perk…"

"Anyways, don't let Xigbar scare you. He's harmless, as long as you stay on his good side. Just run his errands and try not to knock anything else over."

"R…right… Got it," the kid picked up the coffee cup and tossed it in the garbage, grabbing another one from the stack.

"Axel, get your ass back on set!"

The redhead groaned, "I guess that's my cue… I can't wait to be done with this scene…"

As he walked back to the set, he noticed something rather strange. Usually he needed a bit of… help… to get ready for a scene, but it seemed like his conversation with that intern had been enough to keep him plenty …happy.

"Damn, Axel… what got you so excited?" Xion smirked as he got back into position, "Somebody get me some lube! I'm drier than the damned Sahara over here!"

The hair on the back of his neck stood up as she shrieked, and he found his eyes drifting back to the blond as he brought Xigbar his coffee. There was something about that kid… and Axel couldn't remember the last time he was remotely interested in anyone. Relationships weren't exactly easy to maintain in his line of work.

"Axel? Helloooo?" Xion waved a hand in front of his face and he suddenly had the urge to smack the shit out of her.

"What?!" he bellowed, making her jump a bit, "I mean… what, are we ready?"

She gave him a confused look, "Uhm… yeah? Xiggy said 'action' like ten times."

"Right…" he mumbled, shoving his cock into her without a care.

"Axel, wipe that look off your face and pay attention to Xion!" Xigbar yelled from his director's chair.

He sighed and looked down at her, trying to seem more excited than he was… but he kept catching that little flash of blond out of the corner of his eye as Xigbar ordered the intern around. Having this kid around was going to be very… _very_ difficult.

…

 **A/N:** So there you have it. Axel is a sexy pornstar and Roxas is a terrified little intern. Who else is excited to see where this goes? ;P

Again, please feel free to leave a review! I love feedback and suggestions… Some of my best ideas have come from fans! …Lemme rephrase that. Some of the best ideas I've used with permission have come from my fellow fans. :P

There's going to be tons of drama packed into this sucker, so stay tuned for that! I'm hoping this one will rival The Beast in the Basement.

Love you guys!

 _Simply Rexene_


	2. Chapter 2

…

 **Chapter Two**

…

"H…Here's your lunch, Sir…" Roxas handed over a fast food bag to Xigbar per his lunch request.

Xigbar snatched it away and checked the bag, "Wow, you actually got it right. All right, everyone! Break for lunch!"

Roxas looked around for a minute before some random guy came up to him, "There's a cafeteria down the hall with some pretty decent food. You have an hour."

"Th…thanks…" he mumbled, following the crowd of people heading there.

He grabbed a sandwich and a Coke from the fridge and paid for it, then took a seat at the table in the far corner, immediately pulling out his phone and his earbuds. It was time to tune out, and he always did that with his favorite band ever, Feigning Destiny. They were a heavy metal band, and he just could _not_ get enough of their music.

Out of the corner of his eye, Roxas caught sight of the tall redheaded pornstar yet again, only this time he was wearing clothing—and he looked really hot. He was wearing a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the top four buttons undone, black skinny jeans, and red Converse that matched his hair. He had some kind of charm hanging around his neck, which Roxas thought was kind of cool, though he couldn't make out what it was.

Catching himself blatantly staring at Axel, he shook his head a little and turned his attention to his phone, turning up the volume even more and drowning out the roar of the busy cafeteria.

"Whatcha listening to?"

Roxas jumped halfway out of his skin as one of his earbuds was pulled out and replaced with a husky voice in his ear, "Shit… hi Axel."

Before he had a chance to say anything else, the redhead had slipped into the seat beside him and put the stolen earbud in his own ear. "Whoa… heavy metal? Really?"

"They're called Feigning Destiny, and they're my favorite band…" Roxas mumbled, turning the volume down a little so he could hear him. Why was this guy sitting with him? Didn't he have better things to do?

…

Axel's heart was pounding in his chest hard as he sat down next to Roxas. This kid surprised him more and more each moment. He certainly didn't look like the type to enjoy this type of music, but… it somehow made the little blond even more attractive to him.

"Hey, so… what's that charm you wear?"

It was his turn to jump a little as the kid suddenly spoke up. "Oh… it's called a chakram. At least… that's what my parents told me when they gave it to me. I never really got the full story before they passed, but I've just always worn it anyways."

Roxas nodded a little, "So you lost your parents too? I know how that is… like falling into a hole you know you'll never climb out of."

"Yeah…" Axel agreed, wishing that the kid hadn't had to go through that.

"How old were you?"

He shrugged, "Thirteen…"

"I was seven…" the blond mumbled.

"Roxas! I need you!" Xigbar's voice suddenly cut through their moment, making Axel sneer a little. He wanted to talk with him more… fucking Xigbar always had to ruin everything.

And then Axel was alone. He was so fucking tired of being alone.

…

"All right, so this scene is pretty simple. Xion, you're cheating on your husband with Demyx here… Axel, you come home and find them in bed together and then …join in. Review your scripts a little and we'll start filming."

Roxas sat in the corner, merely observing until Xigbar needed him again. This was a very strange first day of work… he really couldn't figure out how he had gotten roped into this.

Once they'd started filming, Roxas was completely zoned out. He couldn't watch this shit, and he definitely didn't want to listen to it.

"XIGBAR!" the door to the studio suddenly flew open and the entire crew stopped what they were doing and turned to see who it was. …Was this just a normal thing that happened here?

Roxas looked up to see a white-haired man quickly advancing on the director, looking ready to murder somebody. "Kane, you piece of fucking shit! I know you're sleeping with my wife!"

"Riku!" Xion exclaimed, shoving Demyx off of her and running over to them with a sheet wrapped around her. From what Roxas could piece together, this random guy must have been Xion's husband.

"Oi… back off, kid, before I teach you to respect your elders," Xigbar brushed him off like it was nothing, not even moving from his director's chair.

Riku literally growled and tore Xigbar out of his chair, immediately decking him straight across the face—and hard. A collective gasp sounded from the crew as Xion shrieked, "Xiggy! Riku, what the fuck are you doing?!"

"How long have you been cheating on me, you bitch?! Don't even try to deny it, Sora saw you two together!"

Roxas felt like his brain was going to explode… So it was okay for her to sleep with other men on camera… but not in real life? He could never be in a relationship like that… knowing that his partner was literally fucking other people every day. …And getting paid for it.

He had spaced out again and hardly noticed when Xigbar peeled himself off the floor and lunged at Riku, starting an all-out brawl in the middle of the room. So he also hadn't noticed as they got closer and closer to where he was sitting. Riku was practically on top of him when he reared back his arm to punch Xigbar again, effectively elbowing Roxas right in the face.

Roxas tumbled out of his seat, yelping in surprise as he suddenly felt a bit of blood trickling down his face. …Had that really just happened?

…

Axel was normally one to stay out of fights like these, but the moment he saw Roxas get elbowed in the face he was sprinting over (rather shirtless) and kneeling next to the kid, "Damn, Roxas… he caught you in the eye pretty good… Can you stand up?"

Roxas just grunted and swatted Axel away, pulling himself to his feet, "I'm fine…"

"Let me look at that… I used to work as a paramedic back in college," Axel pressed, reaching towards the blond.

"I said I'm fine!" he snapped, backing up a few steps. He grabbed a wad of napkins from the craft services table and started to blot at the blood.

But Axel couldn't just let the poor kid bleed everywhere, "Damn it, Roxas, let me just look at it!"

"Fuck off," Roxas grit out, turning on his heels and storming out of the room.

Axel stood there for a long moment, trying to figure out why the kid wouldn't just let him help. And then his confusion turned to anger when he remembered that the two morons fighting behind him were the reason that poor Roxas was hurt.

"That's fucking ENOUGH!" he bellowed, grabbing Riku by the back of his shirt and throwing him in one direction while shoving Xigbar in the other. "Either take this shit somewhere else or give it the fuck up! Did you morons even know that you hurt the new intern?! Or is he just invisible to you assholes?!"

Both men stopped dead in their tracks and stared at Axel, dumbfounded.

"Break this shit up or so help me, I will personally murder you both," he growled, his eyes then resting on a sobbing Xion, "And you… if you're going to fuck your boss, please for the love of God do it more discreetly next time and keep this shit out of the studio! Now stop sniveling and get dressed! I'm done with this shit today!"

With that, Axel walked right out the door. It wasn't the first time he'd walked out on a shoot, and it wouldn't be the last. He couldn't handle bullshit like this… Xion had been fucking around with Xigbar since she was hired, and Riku had made many the appearance on set. Axel couldn't figure out why the receptionist kept letting him in, but he had a feeling that Larxene just loved the chaos.

He made his way back to his dressing room, putting his shirt back on and grabbing his keys and phone. As he burst back out, still in a fit of anger, he ran directly into some asshole in the hallway. "Watch where you're going, fuckhole!"

"Gee thanks…"

"Roxas!" Axel wanted to shoot himself when he realized that he'd just plowed right into the small blond. "I'm so sorry… Are you okay?"

Roxas just rolled his eyes, "This day keeps getting better and better…"

"Roxas, I'm sorry… I didn't know it was you…"

The kid just sighed and brushed past him, "Whatever…"

Axel groaned and face-palmed, completely embarrassed and confused by whatever the hell just happened here. He needed to get home before he completely lost it.

…

 **A/N:** Omg, I was laughing so hard when I wrote Riku into this… And trust me, he'll be back.

So who else is wondering why Roxas totally shut Axel down at the end there? Perhaps we shall find out… in chapter three!

Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks guys!

 _Simply Rexene_


	3. Chapter 3

…

 **Chapter Three**

…

"Oh, come the fuck on!" Roxas slammed his fist on his horn yet again as someone turned without signaling. He was nearly home… just two more turns and he'd be done with the bullshit day. His eye was killing him, but it wasn't anything he wasn't used to.

"Fucking finally…" he mumbled as he pulled into his driveway. He was actually a bit relieved to see another car in the driveway today… he needed a hug.

As he approached his mobile home, the front door swung open and a familiar face greeted him, "Roxas! I didn't think I was going to make it home to see you after your first day, but I tried really hard and—" his boyfriend, Vanitas, stopped short when he saw the status of Roxas' face.

"I'm fine, Van… please don't make a big deal about it…" Roxas brushed past him, hanging his keys on the hook and kicking off his shoes.

But Vanitas was hot on his trail, "How the hell did that happen? I thought you were just interning at a film studio!"

"I was… I _am…_ But a fight broke out and I was caught in the crossfire. Nobody deliberately did this. It was all an accident," he told the tall raven-haired man, sitting down on the couch and holding his arms out, "Just c'mere and hold me…"

Vanitas sat down next to his boyfriend, pulling the smaller man into his arms, "Are you sure you're okay? That looks pretty nasty…"

"I don't want to talk about it…" Roxas trailed off, settling into Van's arms happily, "But hey, I can't believe you're home! I thought you were on tour for another week!"

"Well I had to be here to see you after your first day on the job! I pulled a few strings, and they're going to pick me up tomorrow to finish the tour."

Roxas smiled a little, "Good… at least we have one night together. I missed you a lot."

"I missed you too, Rox… So tell me! How did it go, besides getting popped in the eye?"

The blond thought for a moment, "It was fine… just some asshole director making B-rated movies. Nothing too exciting."

"Working with any famous movie stars?"

He chuckled a little, "No, no… nobody I recognized, anyways. Either way, I'm pretty much just the director's bitch anyways. I bring him coffee and food, run errands, copy scripts…"

"Ah… well, everyone has to start somewhere. You'll be a big shot director soon enough."

Roxas smiled, "Just like you became a big shot rockstar, huh? I still remember you guys practising in your mom's garage. Damn, you were awful at first…"

"Oh, whatever. You know our music totally turns you on," Van grinned, placing a kiss on Roxas' neck.

The little blond melted under him, "Yeah, I can't really deny that… I'm not sure how you can even make your voice sound so good when you're screaming, but _fuck_ …"

Yes, indeed… Vanitas was the lead singer of Feigning Destiny, Roxas' all time favorite band.

"You're such a fangirl," Van smirked, nibbling at his ear a little.

"Nn… Only for you, baby…"

…

Axel blinked a few times, looking around. Where the fuck was he? He'd started off watching Roxas pull out of the parking lot in his gigantic pickup truck, and then… he was following him. He didn't know why… he didn't even realize he was doing it at first.

But he'd lost Roxas at a red light and now he was in the middle of nowhere, completely lost. He pulled over and punched his address into the GPS, finding that he was almost 40 minutes away from his house now. How the hell did this kid have such a strong hold over him?

Nearly an hour later, Axel was finally unlocking his front door, trying to balance his Chinese takeout as he kicked the door open. "Honey, I'm home…" he mumbled, rolling his eyes as his voice damn near echoed through the place.

After his rather sad dinner, he stripped down and got in the shower, playing some Feigning Destiny over his bluetooth speakers. Yeah, he'd downloaded their full discography after he found out that Roxas liked them… The band was definitely growing on him too. He'd done a little research, and the lead singer was definitely an attractive guy with an even more attractive voice.

There he was again, thinking about that kid… He was 22… Axel couldn't help but smirk at that. He was a good 13 years older than him, at the wonderful age of 35. Fuck it, he was a _teenager_ when Roxas was born. Suddenly he felt like a dirty pervert… especially because of the boner steadily hardening at the thought of the little blond.

Axel couldn't remember the last time he'd masturbated—off camera, at least. It had probably been years since he had even gotten hard outside of work. But out of the blue, this kid walked into his life and suddenly he felt like a horny 15 year old again.

His thoughts were so clouded by this kid… he knew he wouldn't be able to stop this until he… satisfied himself. It was almost foreign to him to have his own hand on himself for once, but with his thoughts of Roxas, he finished rather quickly.

"Fuck… what the fuck is wrong with me?" he growled, leaning against the wall of the shower as he came down from his orgasm. He was beginning to get frustrated with himself. A 35 year old man shouldn't be having these thoughts about some barely-out-of-college _intern_.

As he finished his shower and started to towel off, his mind drifted to the thought of Roxas' hands on him and he—yet again—felt himself growing hard.

"FUCK!" he exclaimed, slamming his fist into the wall next to him. He had to stop this! He had to learn how to control himself around this guy!

It took him a minute to realize that his knuckles were bleeding, and that he'd put a hole through his wall. When he saw it, he just rolled his eyes and walked away. He needed to get some sleep.

…

"Mm… I needed that…" Roxas slipped into bed next to his boyfriend, thoroughly fucked and ready to get a good night's sleep.

"I know… I hate being on that tour bus with the band. Can't get any damned relief with them around…"

Roxas laid his head on Van's chest and sighed contentedly, "Hey, did you remember to take your meds babe?"

"Yepp! Took them right before you got home," he assured him, wrapping the boy up in his arms.

"Sorry… I don't mean to badger you about them, but… we both know what happens when you forget."

Van nodded, "It's fine, Rox… I understand. The guys have been checking up on me too. Nobody wants to go through that again."

"Vani, will you get me some ice for my eye? It's starting to swell shut…"

The rockstar chuckled a little, "I was wondering when you'd finally give in and ask for help… I'll be right back, honey."

As Vanitas disappeared into the kitchen, Roxas quickly sat up and opened the drawar of Van's nightstand. As always, his pill bottle was there. It was about halfway through the month, so it should have been half empty… which to Roxas' surprise, it was. He hated not being able to trust Vanitas about them, but… last time was so difficult…

"Here you go babe," Roxas jumped as Van reappeared, quickly maneuvering back to his spot on their bed.

"Thank you…" he took the ice pack, holding it gingerly to his throbbing eye. "I love you, Van."

"And I love you, Roxas. I wish I could stay a little longer this time…"

As the two curled back up together, Roxas shrugged, "It's only one more week… and then you have a month off, right?"

"Exactly. And I'll be all yours," Vanitas smiled, reaching over and flipping the light off.

Roxas knew he shouldn't be lying to his boyfriend about work, but… if Vanitas knew that he was working in the porn industry, he'd be livid. He was the jealous type, and he tended to blow things up way worse than most people would anyways. It would be better this way… It wasn't like Van could ever actually find out the truth. Roxas definitely wouldn't be telling people what industry he worked in any time soon.

He loved days like this… Van was level-headed and sweet, and Roxas had nothing to worry about. He could actually fall asleep easily in the comfort of his boyfriend's arms for once.

…

 **A/N:** All right! So Roxas is dating super sexy rockstar Vanitas! I bet nobody saw thattt coming. Anyone curious what kind of meds Van is on? Throw me a guess in the reviews! I'll do a shoutout to anybody who guesses correctly. (Guess the illness—mental or physical—not the actual medicine.)

Anddd while you're placing your bets, drop me a review too! You guys know I love them.

Until next time!

 _Simply Rexene_


	4. Chapter 4

…

 **Chapter Four**

…

Axel pulled into the parking lot, spying the large black truck in the back immediately. He'd been forgoing his normal spot lately to park even a little bit closer to the blond, always hoping that he might run into him on the way into the building.

But he wasn't prepared for what he saw when he pulled up this time… and that was the intern's arm handing out of the window casually with a cigarette between his fingers. He was honestly rather shocked. That wasn't something he'd expected from the kid at all.

Pretending to play around on his phone so he wouldn't look suspicious, Axel waited around for Roxas to get out of his truck. Though when he did, the redhead could barely tell that it was even him.

A dark black combat boot was the first thing Axel saw, crushing his discarded cigarette as he hopped down out of his truck. As the rest of the blond came into view, he knew immediately that something was wrong. Along with the combat boots, Roxas was wearing a pair of black jeans that fit him _oh so very_ well. Traveling upwards was what worried Axel… the kid was wearing, in the middle of spring, a long sleeved shirt and a scarf. Even more unnerving… the usually clean-shaven kid was sporting a scruffy beard like he hadn't shaved in a few days.

Something was very, very wrong.

As the kid walked by, Axel scrambled out of his car and sprinted to catch up with him, "Hey, Rox… have a good weekend?"

"Sure…" the intern was barely audible, and his voice seemed rather hoarse.

"Th…that's good… Did you do anything interesting or…?"

Roxas started walking a little faster, though his legs were way too short to outrun Axel. He was already taking two strides for Axel's one. "No. I just stayed home."

"Ah… that's cool, I did too. So, uhm… I didn't know you smoked…" Axel finally just said it.

"Well, now you do…"

The actor couldn't believe how much Roxas was shutting him down. "Is everything okay…? I mean… aren't you a little warm in all of that?"

"I get cold easily."

Frustrated with how the conversation was going, Axel suddenly darted in front of Roxas, stopping him dead in his tracks. "I've only known you for like two weeks, but I can tell this isn't normal, Roxas. What's going on?"

"Axel… even if something _was_ wrong, you said it yourself… I've known you for two weeks. Why the fuck would I tell you? If my smoking bothers you or something, then just leave me the hell alone."

With that, the blond ducked inside and left Axel standing there alone, dumbfounded. The kid was clearly hiding something… and as much as he tried not to care, he couldn't help but want to find out more.

…

Days had passed, and each one had Roxas looking more and more rundown. Axel tried as hard as he could to resist the urge to pry into the blond's life, but on Friday, he saw something that he couldn't ignore.

They were in the cafeteria, and Axel had been keeping an eye on the kid out of the corner of his eye. Roxas was wearing a scarf again, just like every other day of the week, and his beard was really starting to fill out from lack of shaving. However… Axel could tell he was way too hot underneath all of that. He was starting to fidget, trying to resist the urge to roll up his sleeves and take the damned scarf off.

Axel had all of his attention focused on the intern, just waiting for him to slip up… and he did. Roxas started to play with the scarf, pulling the fabric away from his skin in an attempt to cool down a little, but also flashing Axel a view of the huge blackened bruise in the shape of a handprint on his neck.

The redhead felt like someone had socked him in the gut. He didn't know who could possibly do that to somebody like Roxas, but if he ever found out…

"Roxas."

The blond nearly jumped out of his skin, straightening his scarf back out and looking up at Axel, " _What_?"

"I'm fully aware that you don't give two fucks about me, but ever since you showed up here, I've cared… I… I care about you. Not a lot of people can make it in this industry, and something about you just… ugh… nevermind… I saw the bruise, Roxas."

The kid just stared at him for a long moment, "I'm confused. You care about me? You hardly know me."

"Whatever. That's beside the point. I can't let this one go, Roxas. Come with me to my dressing room."

"Your dressing room…? Why?"

Axel narrowed his eyes on the kid, "I told you, I used to be a paramedic. You're going to let me look at that, or so help me…"

"Jesus, fine…" Roxas mumbled, shoving his phone into his pocket and standing up.

Axel led him to his dressing room, closing the door behind them and locking it. "Take off the scarf…"

"Axel, I don't understand why you care about this…" Roxas folded his arms over his chest, refusing to budge.

The actor rolled his eyes, "You know, I don't really understand it either. You've been nothing but a jerk to me since you got here, and yet I can't get you out of my fucking head. But that's beside the point. Take off the scarf and let me see."

Hesitantly, Roxas unfurled the scarf from around his neck, tossing it aside. "Happy?"

"Holy shit…" Axel couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was even worse than he thought. "Roxas, this looks… someone could have very easily killed you using this much pressure…"

Roxas just shrugged, "I guess so. I blacked out."

"Who did this to you…?" Axel reached out, ghosting his fingers lightly over the bruise to make sure it wasn't makeup or something.

"Nobody…"

The redhead snorted, "Right… you didn't do this to yourself, Roxas. Who was it? Family, friend?"

"It was my boyfriend…" Roxas whispered, "And I suppose as long as we're here and I can cool down for a moment…" he trailed off, rolling up his sleeves to reveal huge bruises on both of his wrists as well.

"Boyfriend…" Axel repeated, his heart sinking into his stomach. "Shit, Roxas… how long has he been abusing you?"

Roxas shook his head, "N…no… it was just an accident. He didn't mean to hurt me."

"Bullshit. It looks like he was trying to kill you, Roxas."

"He loves me… he's just having a rough time right now…"

It broke the actor's heart to head Roxas so far in denial, "Rox… this isn't something people do to the ones they love…"

And all at once, Roxas broke down. "Fuck, Axel, I know that… But it's not that simple with Vanitas…"

"What do you mean?"

"He's bipolar," Roxas sighed, sitting down on the couch in Axel's dressing room. "Most of the time he's wonderful… Hell, when he's on his meds he's the perfect boyfriend. But if he forgets them for even one day, he has these manic episodes and… that's when shit like this happens… He's been off of them for about a week…"

Axel sat down next to him, "Have you thought about taking him to the hospital? They can probably get him all straightened out…"

"I've tried that… it never works. They'll get him straight for a day and then send him home only to have it happen again. I wish… that I could get away for awhile. I missed him so much when he was gone on tour, but now that he's back…"

"Tour?"

Roxas looked over at him, "Yeah… He's Vanitas Allen, the lead singer of Feigning Destiny."

"Well shit… I definitely didn't expect that."

"Yeah, yeah… nobody ever believes that somebody like him could love a guy like me…"

"I believe it," Axel caught Roxas' eyes, "Why don't you come stay with me tonight? I've got like… four spare bedrooms. You can have your pick. Give him a chance to calm down?"

Roxas thought about it, "I don't know… If I don't come home, he'll worry…"

"So let him worry. Maybe he can use the time to think about what he did to you."

"That's the thing… when he's in his manic state, he doesn't realize that it's wrong. I really shouldn't leave him by himself…"

Axel patted him on the back, "It's one night… just tell him you'll be at a friend's and leave it at that."

The blond nodded, "Yeah… I suppose if I told him where I'd be, at least he wouldn't worry…"

"Good. So send him a text or something and let him know. I wouldn't feel right letting you go back there tonight."

Roxas pulled out his phone and sent Van a quick message, _Staying at a friend's until you decide to take your meds again. …Please just take them. I love you._

"All right… Xigbar is probably looking for us. I've got to do another scene with that bitch Xion…"

The blond chuckled a little, "I have no idea how you do it… Sex on demand, I mean. Especially with someone you hate."

"It's truly an art, dear Roxas. …Thanks for opening up to me today. I just couldn't overlook that bruise…"

"I'm sorry I've been a jerk to you… I guess I just don't get why some famous pornstar is even remotely interested in my life."

Axel smirked, "You're a bit of a conundrum to me… I don't meet a lot of people like you in this industry."

"I'm just me. Average Roxas. I don't see what you find so special."

"Then just trust me on it. You're like a breath of fresh air around here. …And don't for a second think you're just average."

The blond sat there for a moment, wondering how a damned pornstar could be so …sweet. The guy was literally getting ready to fuck some ditzy chick while telling him how wonderful he thought he was. It didn't make sense... at all. But Roxas felt good about accepting Axel's offer to stay with him. Even if it was only a short reprieve from manic Vanitas, it would be a nice one. He hated that it had to be that way, but he was becoming more and more terrified of Van every day.

…

 **A/N:** So only one person guessed, but they did get it right! Congrats, SapphireRayneStorm!

So Roxas finally decided to open up to Axel… though Axel didn't really give him much of a choice. Is anybody else trying frantically to picture Roxas with a beard? I think it'd be hot… but I love beards. If my fiance ever shaved, I'd kill him.

Don't forget to drop me a review!

Love alwaysss,

 _Simply Rexene_


	5. Chapter 5

…

 **Chapter Five**

…

"So… should I just follow you home or something?" Roxas lingered in the doorway of Axel's dressing room as he cleaned up and got dressed. Seeing Axel butt-naked no longer phased him in the least… even he had to admit that it was a pretty wonderful sight to see.

"You can just ride with me if you want… We're coming back to the same place in the morning anyways," Axel shrugged, pulling on a pair of black boxers and some dark denim jeans.

The blond cracked a smile, "I don't think I could turn down a chance to ride in a Ferrari."

"Honestly, I'd love to take a ride in that truck of yours sometime. I've never been in one before."

"Oh, it's awesome. You sit up so high, you feel like you can take on the world. In the country, people don't fuck with trucks like mine. In the city… everyone fucks with everyone. That's half the reason I started smoking again, you know. It's so stressful trying to drive out here."

Axel looked up at him and frowned, "So you had quit previously?"

"Yeah, my last year of college I'd finally kicked it. But it's no big deal… the damage is already done, and there's not much I could do to make it worse."

"Your voice sounds different since you started again… it's more rough."

Roxas smirked, "You should hear me sing. I almost sound like Van."

"I… I can _not_ picture that," Axel laughed, pulling an emerald green t-shirt over his head. "C'mon, I'm ready to go when you are."

"Sure," Roxas followed him out to the parking lot, noticing that he hadn't used his spot again. "Axel, why haven't you been using your own spot? I mean, it's kind of got your name on it…"

The redhead shrugged, "I wanted the exercise?"

"R…right…" he trailed off, spotting the red Ferrari parked only a couple spaces away from his truck. He was certainly flattered that the actor seemed to be so interested in him, but… Vanitas held his heart, even in his manic state.

It was strange to him to have to duck down to get into a car rather than hopping up, and he immediately felt claustrophobic in the small vehicle. He wasn't even sure how Axel fit in the damn thing… he must have easily been 6'4".

"So Axel… are you dating anybody?"

The elder let out a bark of laughter, "You're funny."

"I guess… it'd be hard to maintain a relationship in this line of work… I mean, I've only worked here for two weeks and that Riku guy has been in here yelling about something three times already."

"Yeah… I don't know how they came to be married. I've never seen two people more wrong for each other. You can't star in pornos and marry a jealous idiot. It just doesn't work."

Roxas nodded, "Is it weird that I actually think she'd be happier with Xigbar? I mean, it's a little disturbing because he looks easily 20 years older than her or more, but… He seems to put up with her shit pretty well."

"She's got the poor guy wrapped around her little finger. He's clearly in love with her, but she refuses to leave her husband for him."

"So… how did he get that big scar anyways?" the blond wondered, referring to the dark red scar running up his left cheek.

Axel sighed, "Riku again… it was back when he first found out about them… he was drunk off his ass and came after Xigbar with a knife. Blinded the poor bastard in his right eye and left that big scar on him."

"I didn't know he was blind in one eye…"

The redhead chuckled, "That's because you're too afraid to look in his eyes. He used to wear an eyepatch all the time, but it finally healed to the point where it just looks kind of murky."

"Wow… that's intense. And Xigbar still wants to be with her?"

"For some reason, yeah… I don't really understand it. But maybe screaming banshee is what turns him on. God knows why."

Roxas had to laugh at that. From what he'd seen of Xion, screaming banshee was pretty accurate. She seemed like the typical spoiled brat… but then, Xigbar seemed like the type to spoil his girl.

"So yeah, no partner for me… I went on a date with this chick and when I told her what I did for a living, she threw a glass of wine in my face and stormed out in the middle of the restaurant."

"Damn, that's harsh…" Roxas stared out the window as Axel drove. The Ferrari really did ride smoothly… but it was just too small for his liking. "So you're… bisexual?"

He nodded, "Yepp… I don't want to shut out any possibilities. Of course, I'll probably just die alone anyways…"

"Why did you get into the industry? I mean… surely you could have found another job?"

"I was young… I'd failed out of college and I had absolutely nothing. I decided that I'd just do one… some amateur video that could make a few quick bucks… Turns out, I was really good at it. Apparently having a pretty face and a nice body isn't all it takes. My …libido… shocked them, and they were begging me to do more movies for them. Xigbar saw my work and offered me a job doing some higher-end films and… I never got out of it. Now here I am in my mid-thirties stuck in a job I never wanted in the first place."

Roxas shifted a little in his seat, wishing he could stretch his legs out more, "So… why don't you just quit?"

"Eh, I don't mind it so much anymore. It's easy and I make a lot of money. If I were to quit, I'd lose everything. My parents were piss poor and I have no other family… And it's not like I have a college degree. The best I could do is some crappy minimum wage job."

"Oh… well, that makes sense. And hey, I guess you could do a lot worse than being famous and rich, right?"

Axel laughed, "You know what's really funny about it though? When people see me and start to stare like they know me from something and can't place what it's from. It's even funnier when they realize that it's from porn and then they get all embarrassed and try to act like they haven't seen me before."

"Oh my God, that would be hilarious…" Roxas trailed off as Axel pulled into the driveway of a huge house. "Holy shit… is this where you live?!"

"Well… yeah. It's just a house, Roxas. It's not even that big."

The blond slumped down in his seat a little, "Van and I live in a mobile home…"

"…Really? I thought he was a famous musician…"

"Well yeah… he is now. We've been together for so long that I guess we just never thought about moving into anything bigger… it's home to us."

The two of them crawled out of the small car and headed inside, Roxas ignoring another call from Vanitas as he felt his phone vibrating like mad in his pocket.

"So… Did you wanna order pizza or something?" Axel wondered, hanging up his keys and turning to face the blond.

"Yeah I guess… pepperoni?"

Axel grinned, "My favorite too. I'll call it in. You can hang out in the living room if you want. I'll join you after I order. It's just around the corner here."

Roxas wandered into the living room, gawking at the size of the room. His home was gorgeous… yet still oddly comforting.

He couldn't resist the urge to check his phone… it'd been constantly vibrating in his pocket.

 _What the hell is that supposed to mean? What friend? Just come home, Roxas._

 _Roxas, where the hell are you? Who are you with?_

 _Damn it, Roxas, if you're cheating on me…_

 _Just come home, baby… I took my meds. I promise._

 _Don't make me come find you, Roxas…_

 _Fucking hell, just answer me!_

 _Roxy, baby… I miss you. Come home. It's all better now._

 _I'm sorry, okay? Is that what you want? Now come home._

 _I made us dinner. Don't make me eat alone, Rox…_

 _ROXAS, YOU NEED TO COME HOME. NOW._

 _I'm going to call the fucking police, Rox._

 _Answer your damned phone, Roxas._

 _Who are you with? Are you fucking someone else?_

 _Just tell me who you're with. Is it Hayner? Pence?_

 _Roxas, I'm begging you… just call me…_

The messages just kept coming in. Roxas didn't know what to do… He just watched as the messages continued to fill his screen.

 _Is this it? Are you leaving me?_

 _I'm trying to get better, and you're leaving me…_

 _Just tell me… who is he? Please…_

 _Roxas…_

 _I can't believe this… you're just going to leave me like this…_

Roxas was going to let him vent until he tired himself out and fell asleep, but then he saw one text that he couldn't ignore.

 _Fuck this. I'm just going to end it all._

…

 **A/N:** Nooo, Vanitas! It's not the answer! …Anyways, I think I cleared up some things in this chapter, hopefully answered any questions you guys might have had. Finally touched into Axel's past a little, explained the Riku/Xion thing a little more…

I'm so happy that I've been able to pump out these updates! Thanks to everyone who's following now!

Until next time,

 _Simply Rexene_


	6. Chapter 6

…

 **Chapter Six**

…

"Axel, I need you to drive me home. Right now," Roxas snatched Axel's phone out of his hand and hung up on the pizza place, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Uhm… okay? What's wrong?"

Roxas held up his phone with the last text message on it, "He wouldn't lie about that. We need to go… _now._ "

"Shit… all right, let's go. Pull up your address on my GPS," Axel said, already halfway to his car.

He could barely see through his tears enough to punch in his address, but soon enough Axel was speeding there.

"He's done this before… he was in a coma for two weeks last time…" Roxas sniffled, wishing that Axel could drive faster.

"Try calling him. Maybe you can stop him if you let him know you're coming home."

Roxas nodded and dialed the number, hoping that Van would pick up.

"… _What_?"

"Vanitas! I'm coming home, Van… I'm on my way right now. I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

There was a long pause on the other end, "…You don't care. You just don't want me on your conscience."

"I _love_ you, Van… I've always loved you. And I wasn't cheating on you! I was with a coworker for God's sake!"

"Bullshit."

Roxas yelped as the line went dead, "Fuck… fuck!"

"I'm driving as fast as I can, Rox… we'll be there soon."

The blond's chest heaved as he sobbed, hoping that they would make it on time. "Please Van… don't do this…"

…

The second Axel pulled into the driveway, Roxas bolted out of the car and into the house. Axel decided to hang back for now… he didn't think it would help for Van to see him there.

"Vanitas!"

"You're too fucking late," the raven-haired man looked up at him from the couch, a silver gun hanging in his hand.

Roxas felt like someone had ripped his heart out… "Van… put the gun down and talk to me. We can figure this out. I'll even get your meds for you. I promise, once you take them you'll—"

"Those meds are bullshit and you know it. This is who I am… and it's who I'll always be. The world is better off without me. _…You're_ better off without me," Vanitas slurred, which is when Roxas noticed the empty liquor bottle next to him, along with an empty syringe.

"Fuck, you're high again…" the blond felt like his head was about to explode. He didn't know what to do… With Vanitas drunk and high, _and_ off his meds, there would be no reasoning with him. "Vani, please… give me the gun… I want you here. I want to be with you no matter what. I love you so much… don't leave me…"

The musician smirked, "Right… like you could ever love someone who did that to you…" he gestured randomly towards the bruises, "We both know that nobody would even miss me."

Roxas couldn't just stand here and listen to this… he was getting nowhere. Without any regard for his own safety, he lunged towards Vanitas in an attempt to snatch the gun out of his hand.

But the older man was quick, even in his inebriated state. He ducked away from Roxas, rolling off the couch and onto his feet with his hand clutched tightly on the gun. "Don't make me fucking shoot you, Roxas…" he growled, now leveling the firearm on his boyfriend.

"Van, please… I love you so much… don't leave me here alone…"

"I'm just going to keep hurting you, Roxas, and… I can't live with that…" he whispered, putting the cool metal of the gun between his lips. "I love you…"

Roxas clenched his eyes shut, knowing that there was nothing he could do now. "Please…" he whimpered, waiting to hear the ear-shattering sound of the gunshot.

The sound of the gun firing echoed through Roxas' head a million times, defeaning him as he screamed out in terror. He crumpled to the ground, curling up into a ball and refusing to look. If he just kept his eyes shut, he could pretend that it didn't happen. Even hearing the body hit the floor, he couldn't bring himself to look.

"Roxas, are you okay?"

He was startled by the voice above him, looking up to find Axel standing there clutching his shoulder, "Axel…?" His eyes floated over to Vanitas, who was definitely laying on the floor, but he didn't look like he'd been shot.

"He'll be okay… I just knocked him out. He should stay out long enough for us to get him to a hospital."

Roxas tore his eyes away from his boyfriend and settled them back on Axel, "D…did he shoot you…?"

"It just grazed my shoulder… I'm fine. We need to get him in my car."

"N…no… I'll call an ambulance. You're bleeding everywhere, Axel," Roxas pulled himself to his feet, yanking his phone out of his pocket and dialing 9-1-1.

The redhead sat down on the couch, glancing over at the wound, "I'll be all right… I just tend to bleed a lot. But are you okay? When I saw him with that gun through the front window I panicked and ran in… I don't think he saw me until I was right behind him…"

But Roxas was already busy chattering with the dispatcher. He might have another emotional scar to add to the mix, but he was physically fine. Axel, however, didn't seem to realize how much he was bleeding.

"All right… they're sending an ambulance and some officers. There's probably going to be a lot of questions because of the gun… If they ask you, you need to tell them that he'd been drinking and using cocaine, and that he was off his meds. They might not take him to jail because of his disorder…"

Axel stared at the blond for a minute, "Roxas… are you sure that jail wouldn't be good for him? Or at least some time in the psych ward?"

"I… I don't know…"

"Try to think clearly for a minute, Roxas… he's obviously fighting a horrible disorder, and it's probably time to let the professionals take over and really help him."

Roxas wiped his eyes on his sleeve, "I… I don't know if I can do that to him… He's… I love him…"

"So let him get the help he needs, Rox. He pointed that gun at you… Can you really trust him after that?"

"You're right… I… I need to have him committed…" Roxas sighed, glancing over at his passed out boyfriend. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this…"

Axel shook his head, "Don't you dare feel bad… when I saw him aim that gun at you, I was acting on pure adrenaline. I'm not even sure what I did, I just… knew that I needed to stop him…"

"Thank you… Thank you so much… If he'd… if he'd gone through with it, I…"

"I understand. I'm glad I could stop him too."

…

After hours upon hours of questioning, paperwork and the strong scent of hospital disinfectant, Roxas and Axel found themselves walking out to Axel's car. They wouldn't let Roxas in the ambulance for some stupid reason, so he'd had no choice but to drive the red Ferrari to the hospital.

"I wish they would let me stay with him… he's going to be pissed when he wakes up."

"It's better this way, Rox. Besides… with all the meds they've got him on, he shouldn't be feeling much of anything for the next couple of days. You need a break from it… one where you don't have to worry about him. He'll be safe here, and you can rest easy knowing that he's alive and well."

Roxas crawled into the passenger's seat, absolutely exhausted, "Are you sure you can drive…?"

"Rox, I didn't even need stitches. I'm totally fine," Axel was already pulling out of the parking lot. "Where do you want to go? Your place? My place?"

"I… I don't think I can go home right now. Can I still stay with you?" the blond looked up at him, noticing the sun coming up over the horizon.

"Of course, Rox… I'll call Xigbar and let him know that we won't be in today. He won't be happy, but… he'll survive without us. We both need to get some well-deserved sleep."

But Roxas was already passed out in his seat, snoring lightly. Axel had to smile a little, finding the sight rather adorable. When he finally pulled into his driveway, the redhead lifted Roxas out of his seat carefully and brought him inside, ignoring the aching pain in his shoulder as he settled the kid into one of the spare bedrooms.

He called Xigbar, who obviously wasn't thrilled, but didn't give the director any choice in the matter. They weren't coming in that day, or maybe even the next one. He could do a scene with someone else for a change.

Popping a couple of the pain meds the emergency room had given him, Axel then promptly crawled into his own bed and passed out.

…

 **A/N:** Yay, Axel saved the day! Poor Roxy… he can't catch a break with Van.

SOOO many plans for this story… you don't even knowww. :3 If you think _this_ is drama, just you wait…

As always, if you like the story be sure to drop me a review and let me know what you think!

Love, love!

 _Simply Rexene_


	7. Chapter 7

…

 **Chapter Seven**

…

"Axel… what time is it?" Roxas wandered into the living room to find the redhead watching TV.

"It's 3 in the afternoon… I guess we both really needed some sleep, 'cause I only got up a few minutes ago."

Roxas sighed and sat down on the couch next to Axel, "How's your shoulder feeling?"

"It's been fine… Like I said, the bullet barely even grazed me," he shrugged, having almost forgotten about it.

"Thank you again…" the little blond mumbled, squirming around in an attempt to get comfortable on the couch, "Jeez, did you buy a couch or a boulder?"

Axel chuckled, "Yeah, it's not the most comfortable thing in the world, but—" he stopped short when suddenly Roxas' head was laying in his lap.

"That's better…" he sighed contentedly, using the elder as a pillow. "…You don't care, do you?"

"N…no…" Axel swallowed heavily, hoping that Roxas couldn't hear the hitch in his breath.

The smaller man smiled, "I think we could be really good friends, you know. I dunno why, but I really trust you and stuff…"

"Sure, Rox…" he couldn't help but chuckle a little, "I think you definitely need a good friend right now."

"What did Xigbar say when you called him?"

Axel rolled his eyes, "He bitched at me for five minutes straight that I was being a pussy, and that a small fleshwound was nothing to miss work over. …So I told him to suck my dick and hung up."

Roxas sat straight up in alarm, "Jesus, Axel! We're going to get fired!"

But the redhead just settled Roxas back into his lap, "Relax… we're not getting fired. Xigbar might talk a tough game, but he knows he'd be totally helpless without us. I don't think he even knows how to use a coffee-maker."

"I'm worried about Van…" Roxas changed the subject abruptly, seeming a little scatterbrained that afternoon, "Do you think he'll be okay in the hospital? I mean… don't they make movies about how shitty psych wards are?"

"Hush, Roxas… I've personally stayed in that psych ward before, and they treat their patients very well. He's in really good hands… I even had my old doctor assigned to his case. She's amazing."

That startled the blond, "…Axel, why were you in the psych ward?"

"Back when I was in my late 20s I kind of went through this huge period of depression and… it's pretty hard to hide self-harm when you're naked on camera every day… Xigbar was actually the one who had me committed."

Roxas remained silent for a long moment, then looked up at him, "But… you're better now?"

"Of course, dummy… you've seen me ass-naked dozens of times," the actor poked him in the side, chuckling. "It was a stupid thing to do, and… I wish that I could have seen that back then. But like I said, the doctor I had was absolutely amazing. I actually still meet with her every so often to check in."

"Can I be totally honest?" Roxas' deep blue eyes sparkled up at Axel as he turned to lay on his back so they could talk. "I'm kind of glad that Van's in the hospital now… He was really scaring me at home…"

Axel held his gaze, "How exactly did he bruise you like that…? I mean, were you fighting? Did he try to strangle you on purpose…?"

"Actually…" Roxas blushed a little, "It happened during sex… Vani knows that I like for him to get a little rough… but he just took it way over the top. That's the thing… when he's off his meds, he just doesn't know when to stop with things. He had my hands pinned above my head, but it really started to hurt and when I complained about it and asked him to stop, he grabbed me by the throat to shut me up and… I must have blacked out because when I woke up he was sitting on the edge of the bed sobbing and apologizing to me."

It took the elder a moment to process that. "I… Wow…"

"Am I totally stupid for loving him? I mean, I've got to be braindead to keep letting this happen…"

"This has happened more than once?!"

Roxas snorted, "It happens every time he goes off his meds… I mean, not specifically _that_ , but…"

"I'm sorry, Roxas, but how the fuck are you still with him?"

"Is it totally sick that it's because the 25% of the time where he _is_ on his meds, he's the best boyfriend I've ever had?"

Axel frowned, "So… you're so in love with that small part of him that you're willing to put up with the rest of the pure hell he puts you through?"

"I… I guess so…" the blond turned his head away, sighing heavily, "We've been together for 6 years… He's proposed to me three times, but they were all during manic episodes and I couldn't bring myself to say yes."

"Jesus…"

"It's not so bad when he's on tour… but I can tell his bandmates are terrified of him now too. I don't know how much longer they'll be willing to put up with his violent mood swings…"

Axel exhaled slowly, "So then… how long has he been using drugs?"

"I think he started on their first tour… I know that one of his bandmates, Ventus, is a total coke-head… I wouldn't be surprised if that's where he picked it up from."

"Maybe he needs to take a break from the band for awhile, then…"

Roxas shook his head, "They start another tour in a couple weeks. They've already signed all the contracts. I don't think I could convince him not to go."

"Well… that all relies on the hospital discharging him by then too. Dr. Gainsborough is pretty thorough with her work… she won't discharge her patients until she's confident that they can be on their own again."

"Well hell, he might die there in that case," the blond couldn't help but laugh a little, "Everything is amazing for awhile… he's the perfect partner… and then he starts to feel so good that he doesn't think he needs the meds anymore."

"It's like a vicious cycle… Do you think he'll ever break it?"

Roxas looked up at him again, "Honestly? …No. I don't."

"Then why are you still with him?" Axel wasn't trying to get Roxas to leave Vanitas for him. He could care less what the blond thought of him, so long as he stayed in his life. He really just couldn't stand seeing the kid suffer like he was.

"I'm really not sure…" Roxas shrugged and turned onto his side, curling up into a ball and closing his eyes. "…Is it horrible if I'm still really tired?"

"Nah… go ahead and take a nap. I don't mind."

As the small blond fell back asleep, Axel couldn't stop his mind from racing through the information he'd just received. He felt so bad for the poor kid… 22 years old and already dealing with something like this…

He moved an arm to gently rest it around Roxas' shoulders, turning the volume on the TV down and flipping through the stations. He could get used to this… having someone else around this huge house. He just needed to remember not to get too attached… Roxas was off the market, and Axel would _not_ allow him to cheat on Vanitas. No matter how poorly he treated Roxas, he didn't deserve that.

…

 **A/N:** Blerg. I didn't mean for this chapter to be so short. But it served it's purpose… THEY'RE BONDING. It's adorable. But sad… Axel isn't going to let himself be the other man. Kudos to him for that. But how hard must all this be on his poor little Axel heart?

Pretty please drop me a review! I know it takes a little extra time, but I really do love the feedback… it's nice to know that people are following the story well and that you're all still enjoying the plot line.

Ta-ta for now!

 _Simply Rexene_


	8. Chapter 8

…

 **Chapter Eight**

…

Axel was still completely exhausted as he walked down the hallway to his dressing room the next morning. Something seemed off… there was a chill in the air that only meant one thing.

"Axel…" the only man he'd ever met that he could look up at was suddenly in front of him, a smirk tugging at his lips. "Damn, it's been awhile…"

The redhead swallowed hard, resisting the urge to turn around and run away. "L…Luxord…"

"Surprised to see me?"

Axel rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I mean, yeah… I haven't seen you in ten years at least…"

"Regret breaking up with me?" Luxord leaned against the wall, staring down at his ex with intense ice-blue eyes.

He hated how one look from the older bleach-blond could completely shut down his brain, "N…no…"

"Right, right… I hear from Xion that you found a little intern to corrupt."

"Shut up, Luxord…" he sneered. He could kill that bitch Xion for mentioning Roxas to him.

Luxord just chuckled, a low and bone-chilling sound, "You'd better learn to respect me, Axel. After all, we're going to be working together for the next few weeks."

"We… what?! You don't even work for this company!"

"That pansy-ass boss of yours called me up and begged me to come do a movie with you. I guess he saw that amateur video we were in together forever ago and loved our chemistry. He offered more money than I was getting where I was, so… here I am."

Axel felt like he was about to have a heart attack. This was his absolute worst nightmare… "B…but…"

"See you in the studio, Axe…" the incredibly muscular man brushed past him, wearing his signature smirk yet again.

Ducking into his dressing room, the redhead started to hyperventilate, choking back the urge to throw up. He thought that he was done with that part of his life… he thought he was through with Luxord for good. That man had some kind of power over him that turned him into an obedient little bitch, and Axel didn't like it one bit.

Sitting on his vanity was the new script, which he picked up and flipped through in horror. He would be playing the submissive in this movie… something he hadn't done since their last movie together ten years back. He always played Dominant in Xigbar's films… why would Xig make him a sub now?

Of course, Xion would also be part of the film, but Axel didn't like her role either… she was basically going to be Luxord's assistant… playing a switch role between Domme over Axel and sub to Luxord. Axel wasn't sure if he'd be able to take Xion Dommeing him… everything about her made him want to smack her, not obey her.

He rolled up the script and headed to the studio, his heart pounding hard in his chest. Usually when they got new scripts, they'd spend a little while discussing their scenes and running through their lines. Yes… it was porn… but Xigbar liked to add at least a basic plotline and story into each movie. Yeah, most people probably fast-forwarded through it to get to the sex, but some people did actually appreciate the various plots.

…

"Well, now… what do we have here?"

Roxas jumped and turned around, craning his neck up to see some bleach-blond creep staring at him. "Uhm… what?"

"You must be the intern… Roxas, right?"

The smaller man furrowed his brow, turning back to the coffee maker and adding some cream to his cup, "Yeah… why? What do you care?"

"You're cute… wanna go out sometime?" Luxord wore his smirk again, staring down at Roxas like a cat watches it's prey.

Roxas snorted, laughing at the older man, "I'm taken… back off."

"Right… you're with Axel. Listen, you want a real man or not?"

"…Axel? What the fuck are you talking about? I'm not dating Axel, I'm with a guy named Vanitas. …And _happy_ ," he added, snapping a lid onto his coffee cup and walking away without another word.

Luxord grinned, "Ohh… this is too perfect…"

…

Axel's heart rose up into his throat when he entered the studio and saw Luxord talking to Roxas. He was using the most flirtatious body language possible, but thankfully Roxas seemed to be disinterested.

Glad to finally see Roxas walk away from him, Axel stormed up to Luxord in a fury, "Leave Roxas alone, asshole."

Luxord let out a bark of laughter, his eyes bearing down into Axel's, "You're so predictable, Axe… falling for someone who's taken? You must be a masochist under that pathetic Dom shell of yours."

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Luxord. Don't go near him again, or I swear to God I'll—"

"What, hit me? Go ahead. I bet you can't even bring yourself to do it," the elder challenged his ex, knowing that Axel wouldn't be able to, "You're such a pathetic little bitch…"

Axel watched as he walked away, taking a seat with Xion, Demyx and Xigbar so they could start going over the script.

"You okay?"

He turned to face Roxas, finding it hard not to smile, "I'm fine, Rox… How're you doing?"

"I'm okay… feeling really nervous about visiting Vanitas tonight, but… it'll be all right."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you? For moral support, at least?"

Roxas shook his head, "Nah… it might just make him mad. But hey, who's the dickhead with the goatee?"

Axel chuckled at the insult, "His name is Luxord… he's another pornstar from a different company. I guess… I'm going to be doing a movie with him."

"Ew… I feel bad for you. …So why did he think we were dating then?"

 _Xion, you bitch…_ Axel sneered at her, "I'm pretty sure Ditzy over there is spreading rumors about us since we left together and then didn't show up to work yesterday."

"Oh… Well, he tried hitting on me but I shut that shit down immediately. He looks like a total creep."

 _You have no idea, Roxas…_ "Uhm… yeah. He is."

"Axel! Get your ass over here!" Xigbar shouted, summoning the redhead over to them. He took a seat and opened up his script, wanting to be done with this movie as soon as possible.

Luxord ever-so-casually scooted his chair so close to Axel's that he could feel the heat radiating from him, leaning over and whispering in his ear, "I'll have you wrapped around my finger again soon enough… and I'm gonna get your little friend wrapped around something else, if you catch my drift."

Axel's eyes went wide as he tried not to react to that, scooting his chair away and focusing all of his attention on Xigbar as he explained the basic premise of the film.

"All right… so Luxord is going to be playing a mysterious rich Dom who spends his time taking in and training sex slaves for various reasons. Xion, you'll be playing his permanent submissive, someone who helps train the others but ultimately answers to Luxord. Axel… you're playing a man who turns to Luxord for training when you can't seem to please your partner, who Demyx is playing. Demyx doesn't have the time or patience to train you, so he drops you off with Luxord for a week or so to help you… find your inner submissive. We'll have some other actors and actresses make appearances, but it's going to mainly focus on you three. Then, of course, you'll do a scene with Demyx at the end where you show him what you've learned."

"Ooh, I like this…" Luxord grinned, eyeballing Axel, "Sounds just like you, Axe… not even man enough to please your partner."

Xigbar looked between the two, "There isn't going to be a problem between you two, right?"

"Oh no, not at all," Luxord cut Axel off before he could speak, "Axe just _loves_ to serve me."

The redhead just sighed, sinking down in his chair a little and nodding, "It'll be fine…"

…

"Are you sure you're going to be able to work with him? He seems like a total asshole."

Axel swallowed his bite of sandwich and shrugged, "I don't know… it's been so long since I've even played a submissive role."

"Yeah, I really can't picture you as a sub… I think you might even have a more Dominant personality than Vanitas does," Roxas sipped on his Coke, shrugging.

"Roxas, I kind of…" Axel tried to figure out how to tell him, "Luxord and I… we sort of… used to date…"

That shocked the small blond quite a bit, "Wow… I would _not_ have guessed that…"

"It was over ten years ago… and it was… he's mentally abusive, Roxas. I don't know how he does it, but he manages to crawl into my brain and shut it down… make me think whatever he wants me to… He makes me feel like I'm nothing… worthless…"

Roxas exhaled slowly, "I… I'm sorry, Axel… But you know that's not true, right? I mean… he's just a manipulative jerk."

"When he's around… it's like I can't help but believe it. It's sick… that's why I broke up with him. I needed to get away before I completely lost myself to him."

"I don't think you should do this movie, Axe… it's not healthy to be around someone like that."

Axel sighed, "I don't have a choice… I need this job."

…

 **A/N:** Ooh, another dip into Axel's past… poor guy. Seems like Luxord is just gonna fuck errything up, huh?

Look out for the next chapter, when Roxas is going to visit Van for the first time.

As always, drop me a review and let me know what you thought!

See ya!

 _Simply Rexene_


	9. Chapter 9

…

 **Chapter Nine**

…

Roxas took a deep breath as he entered the hospital. His mind couldn't help but flash back to the night he'd come in with Axel and Vanitas… sobbing, panicking, wanting to curl up and die. This time he just wanted to run back out the door and never look back.

"Hi… I'm looking for Vanitas Allen. He's in the… psych ward…" Roxas mumbled to the receptionist, toying with the sleeves of his over-sized hoodie.

"Take the elevator to floor 3, then check in there and somebody will escort you to his room."

"Thanks…"

As he stepped off the elevator and talked to the receptionist there, Roxas could feel his heart pounding hard against his chest. He had some idea of what he was going to walk into, but Van seeing Axel might have changed everything.

"Roxas, I can take you to see him now," a small blonde nurse approached him with a smile.

He lifted himself out of the waiting room chair and immediately had the urge to run back to the elevator, but he found himself following the nurse anyways. "So… how is he?"

"His meds are working, if that's what you're asking. He should be his normal self."

 _Yeah… His normal, jealous self…_

"Vanitas…" the word was a whisper on his lips as she ushered him through the doorway to his room.

"Roxas."

The nurse could sense the tension in the room, "I'll leave you two to talk…"

Roxas closed the door behind her and sat down next to Van's bed. "Look, I—"

"Take off your hoodie, Rox. Let me see the bruises."

The blond's hands were shaking as he unzipped the hoodie and pulled it off, revealing the faded, but still dark, bruises at his throat and wrists. "It's okay, Van… really…"

"No… it's not," the raven-haired man sighed and looked away. "Roxas… I think we should break up."

That caught him off guard, "Wait… what? Van, we've been together for years… why would you want to break up?"

"You love me too much," Van's voice broke a little as he spoke. "You can't see how destructive our relationship has become."

"N..no… that's not true…" he could already feel tears springing to his eyes.

Vanitas fidgeted with his bedsheets as he spoke, "I know that you love who I am when I'm medicated… but nobody could love who I am when I'm off them. And that's the problem… I'm sick, Roxas, and I'm not going to get better. My whole life has been a battle against this disorder… one I haven't in 25 years been able to win. I _can't_ keep hurting you like this, Rox… and I'm not just talking about the bruises."

"Please, Vani… don't do this. I love you… I want to be with you. I don't want to give up on us."

"Roxas, this… it isn't a discussion. I'm breaking up with you. It's over… we're done," Vanitas narrowed his eyes on him seriously.

The blond started to stammer, "But.. but what… I don't… Van, we live together… we were going to get married…"

"You can stay in the mobile home… I'll stay with Ventus until our next tour starts. I can get my stuff while you're at work."

It felt like a dream to Roxas… a nightmare that he couldn't wake up from, "Van…"

"Please go…"

"But—"

"Roxas, just get out!"

…

Roxas sat in the driveway of their mobile home just staring at the front door. He dreaded being there alone… knowing that this time, Vanitas was never coming home. They had made a life there together… Everything they owned… they'd picked out together. He couldn't stay there… not when the wounds of the breakup were so fresh.

Even entering the home to gather his things, Roxas felt out of place and wrong. He grabbed a few blankets and his pillows, most of his small wardrobe, his laptop, phone charger and tablet. From the kitchen he took an unopened 24-pack of water bottles, along with some chips and granola bars. He already had a plan… but it would be hard.

He loaded all of his stuff into the back seat of his truck, which had an extended cab, and took off towards the studio. The parking lot there was huge… nobody would notice his truck sitting there for an extended amount of time.

Driving through the city at night was actually rather calming… the streets weren't nearly as packed and the lights were rather beautiful. He actually felt calm for once as he pulled into the parking lot. He parked in the back by a large oak tree, where nobody could see him from the street. He had just put the cap back on for the rainier months, which made this much easier. (A cap for a pickup truck is the covering that some have over the bed.) He arranged the blankets and pillows in the bed of the truck, able to create a pretty comfortable sleeping area, where he would also be safe from any rain. He was just short enough where he wouldn't even be cramped for space.

Roxas could live in his truck… at least until the shock wore off that his six year long relationship was over. His mind was so distraught that he couldn't even fathom facing everybody at work the next day… including Axel. He just wanted to disappear.

He finished a cigarette and flicked it onto the ground, ready to go to sleep and forget all of this. He crawled into the bed of the truck and closed the back up, leaving the window cracked just a little bit for some breeze.

As he curled up into the blankets, tears began to roll down his cheeks again. He just couldn't understand what was happening or why… All he wanted was for Vanitas to hold him again.

…

Days passed and Roxas merely moved through life, staying in the shadows and avoiding Axel at all costs. He hated seeing the redhead taking so much abuse from Luxord, but he was in no position to step in with his mind so cluttered. Right now, Axel was better off without some whining, sniveling kid crying on his shoulder.

…

A sharp banging on the side of his truck startled Roxas out of his slumber, forcing the small man out of his bed. He opened the window and reached out to release the latch on the back, sliding out of the vehicle.

"Roxas."

His eyes squinted up at the sight of a rather angry and irritated looking Axel, arms folded across his chest and eyes trained on the blond. "What…?"

"Don't _what_ me. What the hell is this?"

"I don't—"

"How long have you been sleeping in your truck, Roxas?"

He sighed and looked down at the ground, "It's only been a week or so…"

Axel clenched his jaw, trying not to blow up at the kid, " _Why_?"

"Vanitas broke up with me…"

"Oh jesus…" Axel sighed, pulling the kid into a hug, "Why didn't you just _tell_ me? You've been avoiding me all week…"

Roxas relaxed against him, "I didn't want to talk about it… I can't bear to think about it… He didn't throw me out or anything, but I couldn't stand being there without him…"

"Rox, you know you could stay with me, right? You know I've got spare rooms… Why would you rather sleep in your truck?"

"I just didn't want to be around anyone… I don't even know how to function right now… I just feel numb inside," he admitted, leaning back against his truck. "But… I've been showering in the locker room for the extras, which never has hot water… eating out every night… I feel like shit. …My back hurts and the past couple nights have gotten really cold…"

Axel smiled at him, "C'mon… You can shower in my dressing room, I've always got hot water. And you're coming home with me tonight to sleep in a real bed."

Roxas sighed and grabbed a change of clothes, following him inside.

"Roxas, I just don't understand… did you not trust me enough to come to me?"

"It's not that… I just haven't been able to process it yet… And I can see how Luxord is stressing you out, so I didn't want to make it worse…"

Axel scoffed, using his ID card to get into the building, "Don't worry about that asshole, Rox… I can handle him. Just talk to me… get it out in the open."

"I went to visit him in the hospital… and he basically told me that I was too in love with him to see how destructive our relationship was… So he broke up with me."

"So… do you understand at all what he was saying? Roxas, he's kind of right… that relationship was no good for you," Axel told him, letting them into his dressing room. "Sit down for a second… we have a bit before Xigbar'll get here."

Roxas sat down across from him and curled up into a ball, "I get that… I know that it wasn't healthy… but that doesn't change the fact that I love him. I can't picture my life without him in it."

"Don't you feel… relieved? …At all? Glad that you don't have to worry or fear that he's going to hurt you?"

"But I'm still going to worry… Now he's on his own trying to deal with this…"

Axel sighed heavily, "Rox… he was on his own the entire time. There was nothing you ever could have done to help him. Like you said… every time he was finally feeling good, he thought it would be fine to stop taking his meds. That's his choice. It's not like you can force feed him the pills."

"I… I know you're right, but… what if he hurts himself? What if he gets into trouble?"

"It's his life, Rox… he made the sound decision to break up with you, and as awful as this sounds… he's no longer your problem," Axel hated saying it like that, because he knew what it was like to care for someone even past a breakup. "It's not your responsibility to take care of him anymore…"

"Right…"

Axel felt horrible for the kid… it was obvious that he was still completely torn up inside. "I'm not asking you to suddenly get over him, Roxas… but try to live your life again. This zombie thing has got to stop. And you're staying with me whether you like it or not. I'm not letting you sleep in your truck."

…

 **A/N:** Poor Roxas… even after years of phsyical and emotional abuse, he still misses Vanitas…

Yes, Luxord is coming back in the next chapter. I kind of really love him in this story, only because he's _such_ a douche-bag. But I have a lottt of plans involving him and our favorite little duo.

Remember to review! It takes less than a minute but it'll make me smile all day!

Love you guys!

 _Simply Rexene_


	10. Chapter 10

…

 **Chapter Ten**

…

"Not gonna happen," Roxas shut Luxord down before he could even open his mouth. Every day for two weeks, the older bleach-blond man had been hitting on him, and every day for two weeks Roxas had been turning him down.

"C'mon, blondie… You and me, we could have a hell of a time together."

Suddenly Axel was stepping in between them, "Are we going to have a problem? 'Cause I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be sucking your cock today, and well… I can only picture what these pearly whites of mine could do to you," he drawled, snapping his teeth together a couple times.

Roxas cracked up immediately at the look on the Dom's face as he backed up and walked away, "Holy… fucking… shit…"

"It's nice to hear you laughing again," Axel smiled, reaching past him to grab a cup of coffee.

"Damn it, Axel, that was hilarious…" the blond continued to laugh, finally starting to feel halfway normal again.

Axel just shrugged, "It's all I can do not to just punch him in his smug face, but at least I have somewhat of an upper hand on him…"

"So… today is your first official scene with him, right? You've been mostly with Demyx so far?"

"Yeah… and acting like you suck at sex is a lot more difficult than I thought! It's so weird to play some pathetic submissive…"

Roxas shifted uncomfortably, "Uhm…"

"Oh, no! Roxas, I didn't mean it like that… I just meant that my character in particular is entirely pathetic, not that all subs are…" Axel quickly rescinded on his last statement, recalling that the blond had a very submissive personality.

"I know…" he mumbled, toying with his own cup of coffee. It seemed like he was attached to the coffee machine lately, but… he also hadn't been sleeping well lately either. "Hey, I'm running to Chipotle for Xigbar and I was gonna pick something up for myself. Want anything?"

Axel grinned, "Hell yeah! Let me write down my order for you and grab some cash out of my dressing room."

Roxas watched him walk away, his skin crawling when a gravelly, seductive voice hit his ears again, "So… Chipotle, huh? I could go for some…"

"Did you not hear what Axel just said to you, Luxord?"

"He'd never pull anything that stupid. Hell, I could snap his neck without even trying. You really think he'd try to fuck with me?"

Roxas rolled his eyes, pulling out his phone, "Just put your order in the notepad…"

"Come out and have a smoke with me while we're still on break," he countered, blocking Roxas into the corner by the coffee maker.

"Or… _or…_ You could give me your order and go the fuck away," Roxas held out his phone, trying to ignore the awful smell of his cologne. He wore wayyy too much of it, and it did _not_ smell good.

The older man suddenly snarled, "How about you come outside with me and I _won't_ go way too hard on Axel today. We're gonna be working with plenty of dangerous toys today that, when used wrong, could really hurt him. Of course, if you'd spend a little time with me… maybe come out on a date… maybe then I could go easy on him and not send him home with welts and bruises every day."

"Xigbar would never let you hurt him like that… he's the most valuable actor here," Roxas tried to call his bluff, but this guy had a stone-cold poker face.

Luxord just smirked, "Axel would never let on how much it hurt. That's the kind of guy he is… too macho for his own good. Nobody would ever know but us."

Roxas couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was he really about to be blackmailed into a date with this guy? "I've told you a million times, I have a boyfriend…"

"No you don't. Larxene heard you tell Axel that he broke up with you a couple weeks ago. You have no idea how fast rumors travel around here. You're available, you're cute, and you're going on a date with me or I'm going to torture your best friend."

"Fine…" the younger blond mumbled, " _One_ date. And _one_ cigarette. Then you leave him the fuck alone."

The elder grinned, "Sure, sure… C'mon."

…

Axel returned to the studio with his cash and a little post-it note with his order, but he couldn't find the kid. Had he left already? …No, Roxas wouldn't forget about him.

"Xion, have you seen Roxas?"

The black-haired girl glanced up at him, "What the hell do I look like, a babysitter?"

"Ugh… Hey! Dem! Have you seen Roxas?"

The actor just stared at him.

"…The intern?"

"Oh! Him! Yeah, he went outside with Luxord a couple minutes ago."

Axel sprinted for the door, wearing nothing but his robe, finding the two blonds outside smoking. "Roxas… you okay?"

"I'm fine, Axel…" he mumbled, "Gimme your order, I'm gonna go soon."

Roxas yelped as he was pulled away from the other man, "Roxas, what the fuck are you doing out here with him?"

"He wore me down, Axel… if this is what it takes to get him off my case every day, then… whatever. It's harmless."

The redhead growled a little, "He is _not_ harmless… Roxas, did he threaten you? Because I swear—"

"No, Axe… he didn't threaten me. Now go back inside, you're damned near naked!" the younger man shooed him away, grabbing the money and paper out of his hand first.

Axel walked back inside, shocked and confused. Something was going on… Roxas never would willingly hang out with Luxord. He'd have to figure it out… before Luxord did even more damage to the poor kid's heart.

…

"You look like we're heading to a funeral. Lighten up," Luxord's voice startled Roxas out of his funk.

"You know very well that I don't want to be here," he mumbled, staring out the window of Luxord's white BMW. "Where the fuck are we going anyways?"

The older man chuckled, "My favorite casino, Fair Game. It's got a nice restaurant and then we can unwind and play some cards."

"I don't gamble… I'm not exactly loaded with cash," Roxas huffed.

"Well I don't expect you to put any money into it, dumbass. I've got us covered. Just try to have some fun… I think you'll like it more than you expect."

When they got to the casino, Roxas was immediately overwhelmed by the sights and sounds. It was roaring with activity… and the younger was not used to such big crowds.

"Heyyy, Luxord! I was wondering when we'd see your sorry ass here again! …Ooh, who's the kid?" a creepy blue-haired man with a X-shaped scar between his eyes approached them, throwing an arm around Luxord's shoulders.

"My _date_ ," Luxord boasted, "Name's Roxas."

The other man studied him, "Is this kid old enough to be in here?"

"I'm 22, asshole…" Roxas sneered up at him.

"Wow. Charming. I'm Saix, by the way."

"I don't care," the short blond told him blatantly, his eyes searching around the huge lobby for the restaurant. "I'm hungry… let's go eat."

Luxord just laughed, "All right, you heard 'im, Saix. I guess we'll be going now."

"I'll see you around, man," Saix gave Roxas one last glance before shaking his head and walking away, "Damned uptight kid…"

…

"I'm not drinking that, Luxord," Roxas stared at the heavily alcoholic drink that had been placed in front of him.

"Yes… yes you are. You need to loosen up before I drop you in the middle of the highway and leave you there."

Roxas growled, "I don't want to drink tonight."

"Well tough shit. …Or do you want me to beat the hell out of Axel on Monday?"

Immediately regretting it, Roxas downed the drink in three big gulps. His head started to feel funny right away… he didn't drink much, so his tolerance was pretty crappy.

"Feel better?"

"No."

Luxord waved the bartender over, "Two more please."

"Stop doing that!" Roxas grabbed his arm, "I'm not drinking any more!"

"They're already ordered, which means I'm paying for them. So you're going to drink."

…

"Whoo! Winner again!" Roxas threw his fist in the air, nearly falling out of his seat.

"Whoa there, bud… you're gonna crack your head open on the floor," Luxord situated the small man back into his seat, watching as he won round after round of blackjack. "Damn… you're gonna walk out of here with enough money to pay me back _and_ buy a small island…"

Apparently when Roxas was drunk, he was really good at gambling. Who knew? "I'm done… I wanna be quit…"

"I've got one more game for you, Rox…" Luxord told him, locking eyes with the blond, "But we can't do it here."

"Well let's go! I'm on a rolllll…" he overenunciated the "l", spinning in the barstool and standing up.

Luxord threw an arm around him to keep the kid on his feet, leading him over to the front lounge, "I'm going to go cash out these chips… I'm taking back what I spent on you, but you can have everything you actually won. …Stay here."

"Winner, winner!" Roxas giggled like a little kid, sitting down on a bench. "Come back soonly, okay?"

"Promise," the older man told him, walking up to the counter. He was a bit surprised at how a few drinks had this kid acting like a totally different person, but… he planned on using that to his advantage.

When he approached Roxas again, he was wearing a clever grin, "Ready to go play our last game?"

"Mmmmmhm!" Roxas chirped, lifting himself to his feet clumsily. "Where we goin'?"

Luxord didn't answer, just ushered the boy into his car and started driving to his apartment. He was going to get the one thing Axel never would… one way or another.

…

 **A/N:** Roxas, noooooo… Don't go to strange places with douchebags!

What do you guys think is gonna happen? Lemme know!

Remember, a review equals a smile!

Bye for now!

 _Simply Rexene_


	11. Chapter 11

…

 **Chapter Eleven**

…

"Fuck… ow…" Roxas mumbled, putting his head to his forehead as he sat up with a horrifying headache. He couldn't even remember the last time he had a hangover, but he didn't recall it being this bad.

As his eyes started to adjust to the light, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar bedroom, and not one of the ones at Axel's house. "Where am I…?" he whispered, but a light snoring beside him answered that. "Oh fuck… Luxord!" he yelped, whacking the sleeping figure next to him upside the head.

"God damn it! What the fuck are you doing, you bitch?!" Luxord swatted at him as he turned over and sat up, his short hair touseled up from sleep.

"What the hell happened last night?! Why am I in your bed?!" Roxas panicked, his eyes darting around trying to pick up clues. His clothes were on the floor, mixed into a pile with Luxord's… _Shit…_

The older man smirked a little, "Damn it… I had a feeling you blacked out. You really don't remember what a good time we had last night?"

"N…no… Did we…?"

"Four times," Luxord chuckled, "You know, I gotta say… you definitely surprised me. I didn't think a kid so small could have such a libido."

Roxas fought back the urge to gag, "Oh holy shit… Did you drug me?!"

"Roxas, you had like… three drinks. That's it. And you were literally begging me for it last night."

"You're lying…"

Luxord stood up, completely naked from the night before. "I've got proof," he said, grabbing a remote from his dresser and turning his TV on.

"Oh no… please… _please_ don't tell me you were recording us…"

"Roxas, I'm a _pornstar_. I've had cameras in my bedroom for years. I just happened to turn them on last night in case you didn't want to believe me."

"That's sick, Luxord…" his eyes went wide as he watched them together on the screen. He couldn't hear what he was saying, but he kept grabbing at Luxord like he wanted him to stay.

The elder just stood by and let him watch, enjoying the look on the smaller blond's face as he realized that he was right. "You can lie to yourself all you want, Rox… but we had an amazing night together. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be with someone outside of the porn industry."

"I… I can't… I…" Roxas stammered, "Please take me back to Axel's… He didn't expect me to be out all night and he's probably worried…"

"Did you even tell him who you were going out with?" Luxord raised an eyebrow.

Roxas sighed, "No… I'm not sure if you realize this, but he hates you. We _both_ do."

"Ouch… that hurts, Roxas… You don't even want to give me a chance? Have some fun together that you'll remember this time?"

"No."

Luxord harldy seemed phased by his response, "You'll start to remember… and then you'll be back begging for more. You told me last night that you'd never been with someone so good before."

"Right… sure… Now take me home."

Luxord had the kid right where he wanted him. He'd start to remember bits and pieces… how good he made him feel… and then he'd remember the things they were saying to each other… Then ultimately, he'd realize that he needed more and come crawling back. It was how he won Axel over ten years ago, and it was going to work now.

…

Roxas stared blankly out the open window of Luxord's car as he returned him to Axel's house. The entire ride there, flashes of the night before were dashing through his mind. He _did_ remember begging Luxord for more… He also remembered Luxord actually being a decent human being and trying to talk Roxas _out_ of sleeping with him so soon after his break-up with Van. But then… he recalled not listening and basically whining until he got what he wanted.

But why on Earth would he _want_ to sleep with Luxord? He'd been drunk, yeah… but not _that_ drunk.

"Can you tell me more about what happened last night? …Please?"

The older blond raised an eyebrow and glanced over at him, "Well… you won a shit ton of money at the blackjack table, which I have for you in the trunk, and then you started going on about wanting to play more games… You were pretty fucked up… you have absolutely _no_ alcohol tolerance. Anyways, I didn't want to drop you off at Axel's with you yelling and making noise so I took you back to my place to sleep it off."

"Okay, so… how did we end up sleeping together?" Roxas wondered. He knew… but he wanted to hear how Luxord would explain it.

"You… you started telling me how your ex never really did it for ya… that he was pretty pathetic as a Dom and that you were glad you'd never have to fake your way through another night with him."

Roxas groaned and face-palmed. That was all true, but… he never would have told that to anybody had he been sober. "All right…?"

"And then you started asking me to show you what a real Dom was like. You were rambling about how the stuff I do on camera is exactly what you need… I tried to tell you it was a bad idea, but you were very adamant about it."

"Fuck…" Roxas mumbled, definitely remembering that part. "What, so you just gave in and did it?"

Luxord rolled his eyes, "Look, kid… I don't know about you, but I actually had a really good time last night. Once you lightened up a little and let down your defense, you were pretty fun to be with. Watching you play blackjack and seeing your eyes light up every time you won… _I like you_ , Roxas."

That surprised him a little, "Wait, seriously? I thought you were just using me to get under Axel's skin…"

"I was… at first. But what can I say? There's something weirdly endearing about you."

"I didn't know…"

Roxas had no idea how full of shit Luxord really was. The elder had the kid fleeced, and he was thoroughly enjoying it. "I know I'm just a creepy old pornstar, but… if you gave me a chance, I think you'd find that I'm not as bad as Axel keeps telling you. He just got freaked out because he actually wanted to submit to me, and he's never felt that before. I didn't actually do anything horrible to him."

"…How old are you, anyways?"

"I'm 42, Roxas."

The little blond nearly had a heart attack, "Oh holy shit… Do you realize that you're 20 years older than me?"

"So what? We're both adults. Why does everyone always get so hung up on age?" Luxord asked, then realized how weird that might sound, "Let me rephrase that—"

"I get what you mean…" Roxas cut him off, trying to get his heart rate to return to normal.

Luxord pulled into Axel's driveway, turning to face Roxas. "Look, you know how I feel. If you ever want to go out again, just let me know. But… you did fulfill your end of the 'deal' we made, so I promise I won't hurt Axel no matter what you choose." He was lying through his teeth… but the kid was buying it.

"Right…" Roxas mumbled, climbing out of the car.

"Oh hey, let me pop the trunk for you. The money you won is in a little paper bag back there."

Roxas nodded and grabbed the bag, hoping that he'd actually won the money at the casino and that this wasn't Luxord trying to buy his affection.

He shut the trunk and walked up to the driver's side window, which Luxord lowered with a smile, "I had fun, Rox."

"Y…yeah… uhm… thanks for dinner…" he tried not to make eye contact, staring at the ground in awkward silence.

"…Roxas?"

The startled blond looked up, "Yeah?"

Luxord suddenly reached up and yanked the kid down by his shirt, pulling him into a kiss. Roxas yelped a little, struggling to pull back, but… he also found himself almost …enjoying it?

When the elder released him, Roxas stumbled back a little and stood there trying to process what had just happened in a stunned silence.

"Goodbye, Roxas…" Luxord grinned, promptly backing down the driveway and heading back home. The look on the kid's face said it all—Luxord had him. There was no way he would be able to deny it. Roxas would be crawling back to him like a lost little puppy, just begging him for more. It was only a matter of time now.

…

Roxas peeked into the redhead's bedroom to find Axel still fast asleep. With any luck, Axel hadn't even noticed that he didn't come home the night before.

Slipping into his own bed, Roxas' mind raced through the conversation he and Luxord had in the car. If everything he was saying had been true, then… was he really that horrible? Yeah, he had threatened Roxas into that date, but… but then they actually had a good time together.

What the fuck was his life turning into? He'd just gotten out of a relationship with a bipolar musician and now he was being catapulted into some kind of weird thing with a 42 year old pornstar! He hated that he was actually starting to _like_ Luxord… especially after seeing how he affected Axel.

He couldn't do it. No matter what, he could _not_ be with Luxord. He could never do that to Axel... The guy was the only friend he had, and he'd been there for him through so much even in the short time they'd known each other. So… no Luxord. It wasn't going to happen.

…

 **A/N:** Nooooo Roxas, don't fall for it! Luxord is a lying bastard!

So, if you guys haven't noticed yet, Luxord is supposed to have a siren-like effect on people. Underneath his charm and appeal, he's really just a sick monster. But… he knows exactly what to say and do to lure people in and make them fall for him while really, he's just being mentally abusive. Axel had fallen under his spell years ago, and now Roxas is falling for it. It's a power trip for Luxord, knowing that they'll do whatever he wants. With Roxas, though, it's a combination of the power trip but also him trying to get back at Axel for leaving him. Luxord doesn't actually feel anything for anybody… he's just feeding his ego like a fire.

Don't forget to drop a review below!

Thanks for reading! We'll be back soon!

 _Simply Rexene_


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Just a little disclaimer thing… Roxas is NOT in his right mind at the moment!

…

 **Chapter Twelve**

…

"Roxas! We're gonna be late for work!" Axel bellowed up the stairs, wondering how he'd hardly managed to see the blond all weekend. Roxas had stayed locked in his room most of the time, and when he _would_ come out, he was quiet and zombie-like again.

The kid came dashing down the stairs, shoving his arms through the sleeves of a hoodie, "Sorry… my alarm didn't go off…"

"It's fine, we still have a couple minutes to leave. Did you wanna get breakfast on the way?"

"Nah… you stop if you want, but I'm good," Roxas pulled his boots on, lacing them up and tying them.

Axel sighed when he noticed that the kid had stopped shaving again. He hadn't minded the beard too much last time he'd decided to wear it, but he definitely preferred for Roxas to stay clean-shaven. The facial hair took away from his adorable innocence, something that Axel was definitely attracted to.

"Axe… we going?" Roxas was waving his hand in the redhead's face, startling him out of his thoughts.

"Oh… uhm, yeah," he mumbled, grabbing his keys and heading out to the car. It was weird seeing Roxas' huge truck parked in his driveway, but he liked it. "So Roxas, you plan on telling me where you were Friday night?" Axel asked once they were on their way to work.

Roxas looked over at him and shrugged, "I was out with a friend. Why?"

"You never came home," Axel raised an eyebrow, "I'm not stupid, Roxas. Where were you? Did you go to Van's?"

"No! We were drinking, so I just… crashed at my friend's."

Axel's fingers gripped the steering wheel a little more tightly in frustration, "I've never heard you mention any other friends, Roxas… Why are you lying to me?"

"Why the fuck do you care? I don't have to answer to you," Roxas snapped, but then immediately rescinded on it, "Jesus, Axel, I'm sorry… I didn't mean it like that…"

"No, you're right… it's none of my business. Sorry I asked…" Axel mumbled.

Roxas took a deep breath and finally just admitted it, "I was out with Luxord."

The redhead slammed on his brakes at the last second, narrowly avoiding rear-ending the car in front of them. "What did you just say?" he turned to face Roxas, his eyes full of confusion.

"We went on a date…"

"No… no, no… Roxas this isn't funny. You can't joke about something like that with me."

The blond just sighed, "I'm not lying… We went to a casino and had dinner together, and then we—"

"Oh, fuck… _Fuck!_ " Axel slammed his fists against the steering wheel, causing the horn to blare. "Roxas, you can't fall for his tricks… Whatever he did or said to get you to go out with him… he was lying. Please, you've got to believe me…"

"Oh stop it, Axe… You're overreacting. I actually ended up having a good time with him."

As traffic started to move again, it took all of Axel's strength to keep his eyes focused on the road. "That's what he does, Roxas… he makes you totally fall for him so that he can use you to feed his giant ego. Please… promise me you'll stay away from him."

"I've been thinking about it all weekend, Axe, and… I kinda wanna give him a chance. You weren't there… you didn't hear what he was saying."

"I can give a close guess…" he grumbled, wringing his hands around the steering wheel again as he grit his teeth. "Do what you want… I obviously can't stop you."

"I was going to stay away from him for your sake, Axel, but… I don't think I can. …Are you going to hate me?"

The redhead shook his head, "No, Roxas… but I stand by my opinion that this is a huge mistake. You're rebounding from Vanitas with the worst man possible… All he's going to do is use you up and then break your heart, just like he did with me."

"I seem to recall that you were the one who broke up with him."

 _Because he was an asshole, you idiot!_ Axel screamed in his mind, but decided to just drop it. "Whatever."

"So… what did you do this weekend?"

 _I stayed up all night worrying about you, moron…_ "Not much. Just hung out at home."

"Are things going to be weird between us, Axel? Because that's not what I wanted at all… I just wanted to be honest with you."

Axel took a deep breath and plastered a smile on his face, "No, Rox… it won't be weird. We're friends, and I should support you no matter what."

"Oh good…" Roxas let out a sigh of relief, "I was trying all weekend to work up the courage to tell you, but I kept wussing out…"

"You can tell me anything, Rox… That's what friends are for."

…

Axel wanted to throw up when he saw Roxas approaching Luxord in the studio that morning. He knew exactly what the blond was about to do… he was about to sign his soul over to the devil.

…

Roxas took a deep breath as he walked up to Luxord, tapping on his shoulder to get his attention. "Hey… can we talk for a sec?"

The bleach-blond man grinned, "Sure, what's up?"

Roxas pulled him over to a more quiet area of the studio, "So… I think I wanna give this a shot. …If you still want to."

Luxord raised his eyebrows in surprise, folding his arms across his chest, "Yeah? Your BFF Axel isn't going to mind?"

"I told him about it this morning… he was pissed at first, but I think he'll be okay…" Roxas fidgeted with his sleeves nervously. He hadn't dated anyone but Van before… he wasn't sure if he knew how adults were supposed to date each other.

"Perfect," Luxord smiled, "So, couldn't resist me, eh?"

Roxas blushed, "I… I guess—"

The elder cut him off by pulling him up into a kiss that left the blond's head feeling fuzzy. "Oh yeah… I could get used to that," Luxord chuckled, wrapping an arm around the speechless kid's shoulders and directing him back towards the team.

Xion approached them immediately, obviously eager to hear the newest gossip. "I saw you two kiss, you know."

"We weren't trying to hide it, bitch. Roxas and I are dating now."

The raven-haired airhead looked back and forth between the two of them, "Is this like… some kind of pedophile fetish thing?"

"I'm _22_ years old," Roxas snapped, "I'm plenty old enough to make my own decisions on who I want to date."

"Christ, you're practically a child… how did you even get hired here?" she sneered, giving him the once-over with her dark blue eyes.

Luxord stepped between them, snarling at Xion, "Back the fuck off, or I promise you that our next scene together is not going to be fun."

"Fucking freaks…" she mumbled, turning on her heels and heading over to hang on Xigbar.

…

Axel could practically hear his heart snapping in half when he saw Luxord kiss Roxas. He remembered how intoxicating those kisses were, but he also remembered how poorly Luxord ended up treating him in the end. Roxas was in way too deep… but all Axel could do was be there to pull him out of the water when he started to drown.

…

 **A/N:** Kind of a short chapter... Meh. The next one shall be long and exciting!

I love you guys!.

 _Simply Rexene_


	13. Chapter 13

…

 **Chapter Thirteen**

…

A couple of days had passed since Roxas made the rather …interesting decision to give things a shot with Luxord. Things were strange at best… it didn't feel right to Roxas, but it was at least keeping his mind off of Vanitas for the first time since they'd broken up. Sex with Luxord had the tendancy to wipe his thoughts completely clear… and that was what he needed.

But he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was just… wrong.

…

Axel sighed heavily as he prepared for another scene with Luxord. At least for this one they were both almost fully clothed... Roxas was off on a lunch run, which meant that Luxord was free to be a complete asshole and not get yelled at. Currently, he was binding Axel's wrists carelessly, forcing the rope as tight as he could get it.

"Fucking Christ, Luxord… loosen the rope a little," Axel grit out, losing the feeling in his hands.

"Shut the fuck up," the older man sneered quietly, "I'm ready, Xig. You rollin'?"

Xigbar stared at them for a moment, "Loosen the rope, Luxord. I can see his hands turning purple from here. Don't you try to pull this shit over on me. Just because your little fucktoy intern isn't here to yell at you doesn't mean I'm gonna let you get away with maiming him."

The bleach-blond sneered a little, "Fucking pussy…" he grumbled, loosening up the knotted rope around Axel's wrists. "Can we start now, or does princess need anything else?"

The redhead stretched out his fingers, finally able to feel them again, "I'm _fine_. Let's get this over with."

"Now Axel… you still haven't fully submitted to Luxord. You're pissed that Demyx left you there, pissed that you're being tied up by a stranger. Say your lines as usual and then Luxord, you're going to whisper something in his ear. I don't care what you say now… we're going to voice-over it later anyways. Axel, you react to whatever he says with a terrified, yet angry look on your face. Got it?"

Luxord grinned… now was his chance to really fuck with Axel. "Got it, boss. Get that camera rolling."

As they began to film, Luxord put on his signature smirk and approached Axel from behind, wrapping a hand around his throat and forcing the man to look up at him, "Scared?"

Axel glared up at him, reciting his lines with ease, "I could never be afraid of someone like you… a coward, feeding on the insecurities of others…"

"And yet your own lover dropped you at my doorstep, begging me to turn you into a real man."

"Shut up…"

And that was Luxord's cue to lean in and whisper something to shock the man before him, "You wanna know something? You were right about everything. I threatened Roxas into going on a date with me… I told him that I would torture you on camera if he didn't go with me, and damn if that didn't get him to listen to me. I drugged him at the casino, took him home and fucked him senseless, and then convinced him that he had a wonderful time. And fuck if he isn't the most gullible kid on the planet… Now he's willingly dating me and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Your friend is a fucking moron… and I have him wrapped around my little finger."

The entire time that Luxord spoke into his ear, Axel's body began to shake with rage. They were on camera… he couldn't react.

"And you might ask yourself… why? Why would I do all of this?" Luxord continued, moving to his other ear now. "… _Because I could._ "

"Cut… cut! Luxord, what the hell are you doing?! I said whisper something, not write a fucking monologue! But Axel, great job looking angry…" Xigbar rambled on while Luxord stepped back with a smug look on his face.

The moment the cameras shut off, Axel absolutely lost it. With the loosened ropes, it was easy for him to slide his wrists out of the bondage. In one swift move, he turned around and decked Luxord clean across the jaw. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Huh?!" he yelled at the fallen blond, "You took advantage of a broken, helpless man just for your own sick amusement?!"

"Do you have any idea how fucking _easy_ it was to do what I did? One day the kid is calling me a creep and the next he's crawling into bed with me! The kid is obviously fucked up."

"You threatened and drugged him!" Axel shouted, absolutely fuming mad, "And then you played your _sick_ fucking mind games like you tried with me all those years ago!"

Luxord pulled himself back onto his feet, "How did it feel when he ignored all of your begging and pleas to stay away from me? Huh? To find out that not only did he not give two fucks about your opinion, but that he also didn't mind fucking your ex-boyfriend a few times?! Some friend he is, Axe… I totally get what you see in him…"

"Ohh stop trying to fuck with my mind, you god damned rapist. That's all you are. You rape people's minds and you rape their bodies too. When they asked you to come out here, all you saw was an opportunity to prey on somebody weaker than you. Well I'm not going to sit back and take it anymore. I can finally see through all of your bullshit, and I'm going to open Roxas' eyes too."

"He'll never believe you… he didn't believe you before, he won't know. He's _mine_ ," Luxord wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, "And if you ever raise a hand to me again, I'll—"

Axel cut him off with a left hook this time, knocking Luxord back into one of the walls of the set, which crumbled backwards under his weight.

"Axel!" a scream from behind him caught him off guard. He turned to face the small intern, who was staring a them in complete disbelief.

"Roxas…" he took a step towards the kid, but he was grabbed by the back of his neck and shoved down to the floor, where Luxord proceeded to kick him in the ribs…. hard.

Roxas leapt up onto the set, attempting to stand between them. But Axel was back on his feet quickly, lunging for Luxord and grabbing him around the throat hard, "Tell him what you did to him, you sick fuck!"

Luxord gasped for air, clawing at Axel in an attempt to break free. "N…never…"

Roxas grabbed at Axel's arm, "Somebody tell me what the fuck is going on!"

Axel threw the elder back as hard as he could, slamming him into another set piece. "This disgusting piece of shit drugged you that night. He _raped_ you, Roxas… and then he convinced you that you had god damned wonderful time so that you would bend to his every will."

Roxas looked over at Luxord, then back to Axel, "I don't understand…"

"He fleeced you, Rox… pulled the wool right over your eyes. He used you… like he does with everybody."

"I… But I didn't… I remembered parts of that night…"

Axel sighed, "He's done that to me too… he plants little seeds in your mind that turn into false memories. You remember begging him for it because he told you that you begged him…"

"It was the first time I'd forgotten about Vanitas… God… did I really let him take over my mind like that?" Roxas was clearly confused… It was almost as if he was coming out of a week-long fog. "He drugged me… You drugged me?!" he turned his anger towards the taller blond picking himself off the ground once again.

"Ohh, it was one time… you were so god damned uptight, and I knew I'd never get you into bed without some help."

Roxas rolled his eyes, "And you know what most people do when they run into that obstacle? They give the fuck up!"

"You're the fucking moron that fell for it…" Luxord mumbled, "It's not my fault you're a gullible idiot."

This time it was Roxas who lost his temper. He was never a violent man… he wouldn't dream of it with what he'd been through with Van. But, ohh did it feel good when his fist make contact with Luxord's face. "I have no idea what the _fuck_ I was thinking, but we are _done_. You stay the hell away from me, and you stay the hell away from Axel. I should have listened to him in the first place… I was an idiot for that. But you listen to me… you are going to quit this fucking movie and crawl back to whatever hell you came from before you tried to ruin our lives, or I will be at the police station describing every fucking detail of how you raped me and I will make _god damned_ sure that you rot in jail for the rest of your miserable life."

Axel just stared at Roxas as he spoke, completely dumbfounded by the words coming out of his mouth.

"Whoa, whoa… what the hell is going on?! Who's quitting?! And why are you assholes destroying my set?!" Xigbar came flying onto the stage.

"You're going to have to recast your Dom… this piece of shit is done here," Roxas spat at his boss, promptly turning and marching out of the studio.

Xigbar looked over at Axel, obviously confused, "Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?!"

"You hired a bonafide rapist, dumbshit," the redhead told him as he brushed past him to follow Roxas.

…

"Roxas, are you okay?" Axel found the blond in his dressing room, sitting on the couch looking absolutely shocked and horrified.

"I… I have no idea what happened. How could I let that happen to me? It was like my mind was taking every drop of common sense that I had and throwing it right out the window. I should have listened to you…"

Axel sat down next to him, rubbing his back in an attempt to comfort him, "You were still fucked up from Vanitas… You were just looking for a distraction."

"And I turned to the devil himself…" Roxas was absolutely embarrassed by his poor decision making.

"That man is poison to anybody he meets… once you become the object of his perversions, he'll do anything to make you his… You were doomed from the start, just like I was when I met him. Of course, we were together for two years before I realized what he was doing to me…"

Roxas looked over at him in surprise, "You lasted two years with that asshole? Fuck, Axe…"

"Everybody has their demons, Roxas…"

…

 **A/N:** So… that was a fun chapter. I really hope that it didn't get confusing for anybody. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. I know things might have been weird when I transitioned from the movie script back to real life. But I want to make sure everyone is able to enjoy!

But holy shitttt… Axel is such a sexy beast when he's beating the shit out of someone. And it was certainly a well deserved beating… What the hell did Luxord think would happen when he told him all of that shit?!

Anyways… I'm done with the total creeper drama for the moment. Now the relationship between Axel and Roxas can slowly blossom into the gorgeous thing that it is. Allll of this weird shit has had a purpose—simply to bond the two… to give them something to fight through together.

All right! I'll see you guys next chapter! Don't forget to review!

 _Simply Rexene_


	14. Chapter 14

…

 **Chapter Fourteen**

…

"Well, you two idiots ran him out of here," Xigbar came marching into Axel's dressing room, interrupting their conversation.

Axel sighed, "Look, Xigbar…"

"Save it. I don't care. From what I could understand when you were screaming at each other on _my_ set, you both are better off without him. But now we've run into a bit of a problem, see… because he was the _lead of the film._ I mean, are you two trying to bankrupt me? Do you realize that we're going to reshoot everything we've done so far?"

"Reshoot?" the redhead looked at him curiously, "Xig, you just said it yourself… you have no lead."

Xigbar leaned against the frame of the door and thought for a minute, but Axel didn't like the way that his eyes were darting back and forth between the two of them. …And he _really_ didn't like the grin that was creeping onto the director's lips. "Roxas… ever done any acting?"

That startled the blond quite a bit, "Me? Uhm… I used to be in the drama club in high school, but—"

"No! N-O. No," Axel cut him off, knowing exactly where Xigbar was heading with that.

"Let me put it to you this way… Roxas, you'll be taking Axel's place as the submissive in this film so that he can be my lead, or… I'll fire you and sue you for the damages that all of you morons did to my set."

Roxas' eyes went as wide as they could get and he sat there, speechless.

"You can't force him into this, you asshole!" Axel stood up, getting up in Xigbar's face, "Forcing him to do this movie is like raping him all over again!"

"I'll do it," Roxas couldn't believe those words had just come out of his mouth. Why did he say that?

Axel turned to face him, " _What_?"

"All of this is ultimately my fault, so… I'll do it. I'll take his place," the blond just kept talking himself farther into a hole. "I mean… it's just sex. How hard could it be?"

Xigbar grinned and gave him a nod, "Good decision. I'll get my writer to tweak the script a little and we'll start filming again next week. In the mean time, Axel, you need to get Roxas ready. Teach him what to expect."

With that, the director disappeared from the room.

"Roxas, do you have _any_ idea what you just agreed to?! I would have paid for the damages to the set! We could have found you another job!"

But the intern just shrugged, "I don't want another job. I like being here at the studio. Besides, it really is all my fault that he lost Luxord. Had I just listened to you and stayed the fuck away from him…"

"Are you fucking braindead, Roxas? Do you have any idea at _all_ what we're going to have to do on camera? Do you really want thousands of people to see you naked and tied up?"

"Ohh, quit being such a god damned drama queen. I know what porn is, dumbass. I wouldn't have agreed to it if I didn't think I could do it," Roxas snapped, a little irritated that Axel was making such a big deal out of it. "If you don't want to fuck me, then just do what you do with Xion and tune the fuck out."

Axel sat back down at his vanity, his heart pounding up in his throat. He was going to have to sleep with Roxas…

"I'm not the same person I was when I started. Yeah… the idea of porn scared the hell out of me when I walked onto set and saw you for the first time. But I've been in the studio for nearly two months now, and I've become completely desensitized to it. Who wouldn't, seeing all of you guys banging each other every day?"

Well he was definitely right about that. Roxas was _not_ the same person that Axel met not even two months ago. Funny how working in this industry could do that to a person… "Whatever… it's your decision, Roxas, but you _do_ have a choice. Don't let Xigbar force you into this." _You've made a lot of shitty decisions lately, but go ahead. Make another one…_

"Nobody is forcing me into anything anymore. I appreciate the concern, but you don't need to worry about me. I'm weirdly kind of excited to give this a shot… I loved acting back in high school, and it'd be nice to try it again."

Axel grit his teeth, trying to resist the urge to smack his friend upside the head, "This isn't drama club, Roxas… once you do your first movie… it's hard to get out."

"Do you have any idea how much it sucks to be an intern? At least with this I would be using some kind of skill. I didn't go to four years of college to make coffee runs for the rest of my life. If this can bridge the gap and get me into directing one day… so be it."

"So… you're doing this for your career?"

Roxas nodded, "Well… yeah. It's not the ideal situation… I mean, I'd prefer for it not to be porn, but… it is what it is. This'll at least get my name out there."

"I don't get you… at all. You literally surprise me every day," Axel had to smile a little at that. "But hey… if we're going to be sleeping together, you're getting rid of the beard."

"You don't like it?" Roxas ran his hand through the scruff on his face, "Eh… I don't really care for it either. I'll shave tonight."

Axel was trying to keep a smile on his face, but all he could think about was having sex with Roxas. Sure, he'd thought about it many times before… but never once did it involve cameras pointed at them.

Roxas, meanwhile, was having quite a similar anxiety attack. He was trying to act cool for the sake of not looking like an idiot after everything he said, but the more he thought about what he'd actually agreed to, the more terrified he became. Axel was his best friend… and they were about to seriously test the boundaries of that friendship.

…

 **A/N:** Another very short chapter… but I couldn't get into what happens next without it becoming a super long chapter. IT'S GONNA BE EPICCCC!

A lot of you are asking how I update so quickly… No, I don't have any of this pre-written or planned out ahead of time. I just sit down and make shit up every day. XD But I'm glad you all like it! I know I went kinda rogue with the Luxord thing… kinda wish it had been a little different than what I initially wrote… but I'm still happy with it.

But this chapter I just wrote was definitely something I was planning to do the whole time. :3 So excite!

Remember to review! Thanks for sticking with me!

 _Simply Rexene_


	15. Chapter 15

…

 **Chapter Fifteen**

…

"Just take your clothes off, Roxas… If you can't get naked in front of me in the privacy of the house, then how do you expect to do it on camera?" Axel folded his arms across his chest, sitting down on the edge of Roxas' bed and waiting.

The blond chewed on his lower lip nervously, "All right… I just… Can you not watch me like that?"

Axel continued to stare him down, "Again... I feel like you're kind of missing the point here."

"Fine…" he mumbled, pulling his tshirt over his head.

The redhead raised his eyebrows in surprise, "You… have your nipples pierced? Seriously?"

"Shut up! Vanitas and I got drunk one night and he dared me to do it…" Roxas slapped his hands over his chest, blushing madly.

"Hey, I love the look… I was just kind of surprised," he shrugged, chuckling to himself. This kid was full of surprises.

Roxas sighed, "And while we're at it, I guess you should probably see this…" he said as he turned around, revealing that his back huge mural tattoo of a shipwreck being devoured by an octopus-like creature. The tattoo filled his entire back from his neck down to the line of jeans.

"Holy shit…" Axel whispered, resisting the urge to reach out and run his fingers over the intricate artwork. "That's gorgeous work…"

The blond turned back to face him, "There's one more thing…"

"…What else could there be?" Axel eyeballed him curiously. Every day with this kid was like meeting him for the first time.

Roxas took a deep breath in and unbuttoned his jeans, sliding them and his boxers down his slim hips and kicking them away.

The elder cracked up, unable to hold back his laughter, "Oh wow… so it wasn't just your nipples you pierced, eh? Got yourself a nice Prince Albert there too?"

"I was completely wasted…" Roxas reminded him, "And Vanitas is a very, very convincing person…"

"Again, not judging… Xigbar'll be pleasantly surprised. He's been trying to convince me to do it for years."

Roxas smirked, "Scared?"

"My entire career revolves around my dick, Roxas. I'm not going to take the chance that it'll get infected and fall off or something."

"So… anyways… this is me," his cheeks flushed an even deeper red.

Axel's eyes drifted over the other man's body slowly, getting a bit drunk on the sight of him naked. For as skinny as the kid was, he did have some nice muscle definition… Overall, he actually had the perfect body for porn films. Just… nice to look at. "Hmm… we'll have to do some grooming. I can take you to the chick who does mine."

"…Grooming? Like…"

"Like… we're going to have to get you waxed," Axel laughed, "Xigbar isn't going to want a single strand of hair on your body. I don't know why… I personally think it looks weird and unnatural. But it's what sells…"

Roxas stared at him for a long moment, "I… I've never even shaved down there or anything… Does it hurt?"

Axel just chuckled lowly, "You get used to it."

…

"MOTHERFUCKING HELL!" Roxas screamed as they ripped another wax strip off. "Axel, stop laughing you fucking jerk!"

"I can't! This is fucking golden!" Axel could hardly breathe through his laughter.

The brunette that was doing the waxing had given up on counting down. It seemed to work better to just surprise him. "COCKSUCKING WHORE!" he shouted, startling her a little as she pulled off another.

"He doesn't mean you, darling. He's just venting," Axel told her, "Roxas, you need to calm down. You're probably disturbing the other clients in the building.

"Mother of GOD!" he tried to quiet down, but he'd never felt pain so intense.

The brunette scoffed, "He got his nips and his dick pierced, and he can't handle this?"

"I don't understand it either, doll. But we're nearly done… I just need a bit of a touch up, and then we'll get out of here and give you some peace and quiet."

She pulled the last strip and, with a few more explitives from Roxas, it was finally over. "All right kid… I'm just going to apply a cooling lotion and you're all sat. Nice and smooth, just like a good little porn star."

Roxas was flushed red from head to toe, and not just because of the waxing. But the cooling lotion felt amazing… and soon enough he was pulling his clothing back on while Axel undressed.

The redhead hardly even flinched when she did him… he was obviously used to it. "Axe… how often will I need to do this…?"

"Whenever it starts to grow back, dummy. I usually go once every week or so… sometimes I can go a little longer, sometimes I just shave in between times."

"Fuckkk…" Roxas groaned, feeling incredibly weird being so ... _smooth_ underneath his clothing.

…

"Roxas… I've been thinking…"

"Well that's never good," the blond joked, stretching out on the couch as they watched TV together, his head resting in Axel's lap again. It was the only way he could get comfortable on that God forsaken brick of a couch.

Axel sighed and muted the TV, "I'm not sure if… if our first time sleeping together… if it should be on camera…"

"What do you mean? Like… you wanna do it here first?" Roxas looked up at him, cocking his head to the side curiously.

"I mean… don't you think it'd be a good idea? So there's no… surprises?"

Roxas laughed, "What, do you think my dick is gonna bite you or somethin'? We'll be fine, Axel…"

"Right…" Axel settled back into the couch and turned the volume back on. …But then immediately muted it again, "Except… Aren't you afraid about the… the fit?"

Roxas grumbled and sat up, turning to face him, "What are you going on about? Fit?"

"Like… my size…?" it was the redhead's turn to blush furiously.

"What, you think I can't handle you?"

"I'm bigger than Luxord…" he mumbled, suddenly wishing he hadn't brought it up.

Roxas scoffed, "I've been taking it in the ass for years… I think I'll be fine."

"And I don't think you will," Axel challenged him, spurred on by the blond's casual attitude about it all.

"You're full of shit…" Roxas smirked, locking eyes with the elder man, "I bet I could take you without even warming up first."

They were both getting amped up… and it was no surprise what came out of Axel's mouth next. "Prove it to me. Right now."

Without so much as a pause, Roxas had his lips on Axel's, locking him into an intense kiss. The redhead felt his heart flip and race as he moaned into the kiss, immediately taking the Dominant position and climing over Roxas on the couch.

"You asked for this… remember that…" Axel growled into his ear, taking delight in undressing the men beneath him before pulling off his own pants.

"I just can't wait to say I told you so," the blond taunted him, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

Their kiss had been more than enough to get Axel hard, and he was more than ready to prove little Roxas wrong. He lined himself up, but right before he made his first thrust to enter the kid, he stopped short and leaned in, "Beg me for it…" he whispered in the blond's ear.

But that just made Roxas laugh and shove him away, "Get off me, you weirdo… We can settle this in the studio."

Axel fought back the urge to whimper as he was shoved away, regaining his composure quickly, "Whatever… I knew you'd chicken out."

"You really wanna settle this? Fine," Roxas narrowed his eyes on the older man, pushing him back against the couch and swinging his leg around to settle himself straddled across his lap.

"Roxas, what are you doing?" Axel grit out through clenched teeth, finding it incredibly difficult to resist the urge to pull him into another kiss.

The blond was already lined up over Axel's cock, "You want me to prove it to you? I'll prove it to you."

"Wait, Rox—" Axel was cut off as the blond slipped down over him with a _shocking_ amount of ease. "Holy _fuck_ …" he groaned, nearly cumming right there and then.

Roxas seemed to need a moment as well, biting down on his bottom lip hard as he tried to keep the smug look on his face. "See…? I told you so…" he mumbled, looking down into Axel's brilliant green eyes.

"Roxas…" the word was merely a whisper on the tip of his tongue as he searched those gorgeous blue eyes of his.

But the moment ended as quickly as it began… Roxas tore himself off of Axel, crossing the room in a few quick paces, "So… yeah. I think we'll be fine. I just have to… I'm gonna go to my room…"

He disappeared up the stairs, leaving Axel sitting on the couch in an absolute stupor, his mind racing to figure out what had just happened.

Roxas slammed the door to his bedroom shut, leaning back against it as he tried to calm his heart rate. Never… _ever_ had he felt anything that… _electric_ before… He felt like someone had tried to jumpstart his heart with a car battery.

" _Axel_ …"

…

 **A/N:** Omg, omg, OMG! I fucking love this story. It's so god damned fun to write.

Men are so funny. Challenge them even a little and they'll even go so far as to fuck each other just to prove a point. XD I love these two so much.

Also, if you would like the reference picture for Roxas' tattoo, let me know and I can PM or email you the link.

Continue to send me your lovely reviews! They're ever-so appreciated.

Until tomorrow, loves!

 _Simply Rexene_


	16. Chapter 16

…

 **Chapter Sixteen**

…

"Ohh hell yes…" Xigbar circled Roxas as he started to undress. "You have the perfect look for this, kid."

The blond shifted on his feet uncomfortably as he was eyeballed by the director. "Uhm… thank you?"

"I see Axel took you to see his girl already," he noted, "You're perfect. My writer has been editing the script a little because you're more …inexperienced… and we don't want you to get hurt. He'll have it ready by Monday for the read-through. Has Axel been teaching you all of his tricks?"

Roxas swallowed hard. He'd been avoiding Axel since he… since they made that bet. "Uhm… yeah… I should be fine."

"Have you two ever… been together before?"

"What? No!" he yelped, a little too suspiciously.

Xigbar raised an eyebrow, "Then that's your homework for tonight. Go get laid. I don't want you two idiots fucking up on set because you've never slept together. I told you, you need to know all of his moves. Surprises tend to lead to multiple takes, and we're already way behind on filming."

"R…right… So I need to sleep with Axel tonight…"

"Is that gonna be a problem? Because if you fuck up my movie one more time…"

Roxas cleared his throat, "N…no. It's not a problem. I'll make sure there won't be any surprises Monday…"

"Good. Now get dressed and get outta here."

…

Roxas' hands were shaking as he unlocked the front door, knowing what he needed to do. Ever since their bet a couple days earlier, he'd been unable to get Axel off his mind. They were friends… best friends. …Right?

"Axel…? Are you home?" Roxas wandered through the house in search of the famous redhead. His heart was racing in his chest, but he was also …excited?

When he pushed open Axel's bedroom door and found the elder sitting in bed watching TV, he knew that he had his opportunity. He closed the door behind him as he walked up to the side of the bed, trying to remain confident and calm as he crawled up ontop of Axel, straddling his lap with his slim hips.

"Hi…" he whispered, staring down into those intense green eyes of his.

"Roxas," the word was a bit strangled as Axel cleared his throat, "W…what are you doing?"

The smaller man inhaled deeply, then let out a shaky breath, "My homework…" he told Axel, leaning down and capturing his lips in a deep kiss.

Axel squeaked in surprise, but didn't deny the kiss. He certainly hadn't expected it… the two had barely been able to look at each other lately. "Nn… Roxas…" he groaned, his brain hardly able to process what was happening.

Roxas couldn't hold himself back… he tangled his fingers through Axel's red locks, his hips instinctively moving against the man's beneath him as he worked his tongue into the kiss. He could feel Axel's heart beating madly in his chest just like his was… He didn't even notice him reach over and turn off the TV... just that the absence of background noise made it even easier to hear them both moaning softly.

"Wait…" Axel pulled back, breathing shallowly, "Roxas, what's going on…? Why did you freak out on me that night?"

"Shh… just kiss me, Axel…" he whimpered softly, too embarrassed to talk about it.

The redhead fended off his advances, keeping him at arm's length until he got some answers, "I can't figure you out… You say we're just friends, and then… this?"

"Xigbar told me we had to…" he mumbled, "He had me stop by the studio today to make sure I was …ready."

"Well that explains this. But what the fuck happened before?"

Roxas could feel his cheeks flushing a deep red, "It felt really good… and I kind of panicked."

"What the hell was there to panic about?"

"I don't know! I have anxiety!" Roxas crawled off of Axel and sat down on the edge of the bed, "That's half the reason I'm submissive… I'll take charge like that and then halfway through my brain misfires and I freak out…"

Axel furrowed his brow, "So… what? You need me to take charge?"

"I don't kn—"

He cut Roxas off in one suave move that put the blond under him this time and had his wrists pinned above his head, "'Cause I can do that," he smirked, noting the immediate look of comfort on Roxas' face. The kid was most certainly submissive… and kind of adorable in this position.

"O…okay…" he whispered, a small smile touching his lips.

Axel settled himself comfortably over the younger man, leaning down to capture another delicious kiss. Roxas all but melted beneath him, clearly loving the way Axel had taken over.

"Well you are just _loving_ this, huh?" Axel teased as he pulled the boy's shirt over his head.

"Shut up…" he blushed furiously, his erection straining against his pants uncomfortably.

The redhead raised an eyebrow, "Take off your pants for me."

Roxas immediately obeyed, unbuttoning his jeans and sliding them down his hips along with his boxers.

"Damn, Rox…" Axel mumbled, his eyes scanning over the gorgeous man below him. He quickly shed his own clothing, crawling back over Roxas and looking down into his eyes, "You know… I sleep with random people every day, but it never feels like this…"

Roxas could feel his heart break in his chest. Axel had fallen for him… any idiot could see that. But Roxas just couldn't return those feelings. His heart still held an excess of love for Vanitas, and it wasn't going away any time soon… Sure, Axel made his heart flutter and his knees weak, but… "Axel, stop…"

The elder stopped halfway to another kiss and cocked his head to the side curiously, "What?"

"Do you have feelings for me?" he asked blatantly, biting his bottom lip.

"I… yeah, Roxas… of course I do," Axel furrowed his brow, "Is that a problem?"

Roxas just sighed, "I'm still in love with Vanitas… I just… I need you to know that I don't… I don't have feelings for you."

"I'm a pornstar, Roxas… I can have sex without involving emotion," his voice was a bit deadpanned and the spark had disappeared from his eyes.

"I just needed you to know…" he whispered, feeling like the shittiest person in the world.

Axel just shrugged, "It's no big deal. Here… turn over. I wanna fuck you from behind." _So that I don't have to look you in the eyes and try not to feel anything…_

Roxas reluctantly listened, getting onto his hands and knees for him. He didn't even flinch as Axel entered him, though he couldn't help but moan slightly at the feeling.

To Axel, this had become just like being on camera. He tried to block out who he was fucking and just went for it… slamming away until he finished. Roxas felt absolutely amazing… and the occasional moaning coming from the blond was driving him wild. He came much earlier than he'd intended to, but he was almost glad that it was over so he could stop pretending.

But in his own orgasm he hadn't noticed how hard Roxas came at the same moment, effectively ruining the redhead's sheets. He didn't care… all he wanted to do was pull the kid into his arms and snuggle with him, but… instead he found himself just pulling out and laying down on the other side of the bed. "Right… so now we know what to expect."

Roxas looked down at the mess he made and frowned, "I'm sorry about your sheets…"

"I've got extras… don't worry about it."

"…Axe, are you mad at me?"

He found himself looking up into concerned blue eyes, "I'm not mad, Roxas… I didn't just _expect_ you to have feelings for me. Reality is just a bitch sometimes."

"Yeah… you can say that again," he mumbled, wiping off with some tissue before getting dressed again. "So… did you wanna order Chinese or something?"

"Sure… you know what I like."

Suddenly Roxas remembered something, "Hey, I don't know if you're interested, but… Van is playing a concert on live TV tonight. Channel 12."

"Yeah, you mentioned that a few days ago… maybe I'll check it out."

"We could always watch it together…" Roxas suggested, "I mean… we haven't hung out in the living room in awhile…"

Axel nodded, "Sure, Rox… go order the food. I'm gonna get dressed."

…

Roxas inhaled sharply as an image of Vanitas flashed across the screen. He looked awful… his eyes had huge dark circles, his hair was unkempt and he was unnaturally pale… "Jesus…" he whispered, wondering what had happened to him.

"And here we are in an exclusive interview with the lead singer of Feigning Destiny, Vanitas Allen. Now Van, we've heard some rumors that you just got out of the hospital not too long ago. What's that about?"

Roxas watched as his ex shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Van had always hated interviews… "I… no comment?"

"We've also heard that you're newly single. Care to share anything about your breakup?" the ruthless reporter seemed to give zero fucks about his privacy.

"Actually… I do want to share something," Vanitas suddenly snatched the microphone from her, "Roxas… if you're listening to this right now, I need you to know that I made the biggest mistake of my life when I broke up with you. I… I need you to come home… I love you, and I hate life without you…"

Roxas choked on his general tsao's, looking over at Axel with wide eyes, "Did he really just say that?"

"Hush! He's saying more!" Axel was on the edge of his seat, just as surprised and confused.

"I'm leaving the tour, Rox… I've got to see you again. I'll be on my way home tonight and… please, _please_ be there…" he finished, sounding incredibly desperate.

The blond just stared at the TV, his mouth gaping a little. "Holy shit… He's coming home…"

…

 **A/N:** Muahaha! My brain is so evil sometimes… But yay, Vanitas is back! Poor Axel, though… my heart breaks for him. What will Roxas do?! HE'S ABOUT TO STAR IN A PORNO AND HIS BOYFRIEND IS BACK!

Lemme know what you think! :3

See you soon!

 _Simply Rexene_


	17. Chapter 17

…

 **Chapter Seventeen**

…

"I don't think I should be here with you, Roxas… you told me yourself that he gets extremely jealous…"

"Axel, you're my best friend now. He's going to have to accept that… and I'm not getting back together with him unless he does," the blond grabbed Axel's wrist to stop him from pacing back and forth in the living room of the mobile home. "Now sit down… you're making me even more nervous."

A flash of headlights through the front window had them both jumping out of their skin. Roxas stood up and walked up to the front door, hearing Van's key turning in the lock.

"Roxas, you're here!" he was immediately pulled into the arms of his ex, "I wasn't sure if you saw…"

"If I saw you humiliate yourself on live TV? Yeah, Van… I saw," Roxas pushed him away, taking a step back. "I need you to meet someone."

Vanitas stepped into the house, eyes immediately resting on Axel, "Who the fuck is this? …Why do you look familiar?"

"He saved your life, Van… he was there that night," Roxas told him, moving to stand between them, "He's my best friend, and he's who I've been staying with."

"You… you knocked me out… Did I shoot you?" Vanitas tried to remember that night, but it was all a fog.

Axel shrugged, "You grazed me a little, but I was fine. And I'm sorry about knocking you out, but…"

"But you saved my life… right…"

Roxas couldn't tell what Van was feeling. He was on his meds… he could tell that much for sure. "Van… there's more that we need to talk about." Vanitas sat down in the recliner and Roxas sat back down next to Axel. "About my job… I should have told you a long time ago, but… the director I'm assissting, he… he's a porn director. He shoots porn films."

Van's golden eyes went wide and he remained in a stunned silence for a moment.

"I didn't know when I applied for the job, or I wouldn't have done it. But here's the other thing… Axel is a pornstar."

It was then that Vanitas realized why he looked so familiar, "Holy shit… I should have known. I should have recognized you right away… You're Axel Marshall…"

"I take it you've seen some of my work…?" Axel offered awkwardly, not really knowing how to react to this situation.

"Have you two slept together…?" Van's question came as a whisper.

Roxas sighed and shook his head, "That's the other thing… Before I knew you were coming back… I was … _offered_ a position in one of the movies and… I kind of accepted it."

"You mean… like… you're going to be in a porno?" Van's face went completely white as it sunk in, "You'll be… sleeping with a bunch of random people…?"

"Mainly Axel… and some guy named Demyx… But you need to understand, Van… I don't have feelings for anybody but you. This is all just work for me."

Vanitas blinked a few times, "So you're asking me to take you back… _knowing_ that you're sleeping with other men?"

"I'm not choosing you over my job, Van… so yes. You can either take me as is, or go back on tour and forget about me…" Roxas told him, knowing that he would need to spell it out for Van as clearly as possible.

"I… I…"

Roxas stood up, "I'm going to text you the studio's address. Think about it… and if you decide that you can still be with me, you'll know where to find me. Until then… I'll be at Axel's."

The redhead lifted himself to his feet and followed Roxas out to the car, a bit amazed by the ultimatum that he'd given Vanitas. "Rox… are you sure you want to leave it like that?"

"This is my life now, Axe… and I'm done trying to hide who I am from him. He'll let me know what he wants to do… and until then, we'll just focus on the movie."

…

"Axel, why do you look so uncomfortable? Lighten up a little," Xigbar instructed, clearly pissed that Axel wasn't on his A-game that day.

"Do I really have to do a scene with her? She's fucking impossible to work with," Axel grimaced down at Xion, irritated that instead of working with Roxas already, his first scene was with her.

Xigbar narrowed his eyes on the redhead, "Just do the scene and do it right. If you were half as good as Luxord was, we'd be done with the damned scene already."

"Why don't _you_ just come up here and do the scene with her? Huh? We all know you love fucking her, even though she's a fucking banshee," Axel snapped, his mood plummeting lower and lower.

"Don't you fucking test me, you god damned brat. Shut the fuck up and do your scene so we can move on and bring Roxas in."

Hearing that, Axel sucked it up and finished the scene with her, anxious to film his first scene with Roxas. It'd been a little difficult to see him doing scenes with Demyx… but now he would have the kid to himself for most of the upcoming scenes.

"All right… that'll have to do. I guess we can work the angle that you've been getting bored with her or something…" Xigbar muttered, rolling his eyes as the two got change for the next scene, "Demyx! It's your cue to bring Roxas in! Let's keep rolling!"

The cameras started up again, focusing on the scene playing out. Axel and Xion were in the setting of a mansion-esque living room, the redhead fully dressed in a black suit with no tie, the top couple buttons of his emerald green dress shirt undone. Xion was in a leather corset outfit and patent black boots, sitting next to him on the couch when the other two entered.

"Are you Benjamin?" Demyx demanded, pulling an irritated looking Roxas onto set.

Axel raised an eyebrow, "Who let you into my house?"

"I don't know, your maid? Look, I called you earlier… you said you could help me with my … _problem?_ " he nodded towards Roxas, who had a set of handcuffs around his wrists, a gag in his mouth, and seemed to be fighting like hell to run back out the door.

"Right… you're Nicolas. Bring him over here," Axel waved them over, but Roxas fought tooth and nail.

Demyx forced Roxas to his knees in front of Axel, "Quit whining!" he scolded the blond, obviously at the end of his rope with the kid.

"And what exactly is your problem here?"

"I … _acquired_ … this submissive recently, and he won't listen to me worth shit. I heard that you're good at training the especially difficult ones."

Right… Xigbar had changed the script to more of an illegal sex slave-trade kind of thing. Axel didn't like it as much… but it _was_ kind of fun to see Roxas acting so sassy. "And how, pray tell, did you acquire him?"

"I have my sources," Demyx snapped, "Can you help me or not? 'Cause I'm about to get rid of him if you can't."

"Doms like you make me sick… you think you can just buy yourself a sex slave and they'll immediately obey you without a second thought. It takes time to build the trust that a relationship like this needs."

Demyx rolled his eyes, "Fuck, I don't have time for that shit… can't you just train him for me?"

Axel clenched his jaw, "Do you have the fee I require?"

"Yeah, yeah… how long will you need?"

"Give me two weeks with him… Once I break him, he'll be the perfect slave."

Roxas was struggling against his bondage, starting to yell when Demyx turned on his heels and walked off set.

Axel turned his attention down to the blond before him and locked eyes with the boy, "Stop fighting. You're safe here."

He stop squirming and calmed down a little, his jaw starting to hurt from the gag.

On cue, Axel reached down and unbuckled the gag, freeing the kid to speak. "What's your name, kid?"

"F…Finn…" he whimpered, looking absolutely terrified. Roxas was actually having fun with this scene… it really took a lot of skill to act like he was afraid of Axel.

"All right… I'm Ben. Where did you come from before Nicolas found you?"

He paused, "I… I'm not sure… They didn't let me outside…" _Jesus… who wrote this script?_

"Do you know how old you are?" Axel looked at him curiously.

"I'm 20…" he mumbled, covering that plot hole up quickly.

Axel smiled and turned to Xion, "Becca, go to the basement and get him a better outfit. This whole jeans and tshirt thing isn't going to work."

"Of course, Sir. I'll be back shortly," she obeyed, walking off set.

"Becca is my …assisstant? She was the first girl I ever trained, and she's been with me ever since."

Roxas looked around the room, "So… you do this often?"

"Unfortunately, yes… It pains me to see Doms out there that don't want to spend the time training their own submissive, but if I don't step in and do the work for them, they usually end up mistreating them."

They continued the scene together with no interruptions from Xigbar, which ususally meant that he was happy with how it was going.

"Damn it, we're out of time… cut! That's enough for today!" he stepped in just as Axel was going to begin their training.

Looked like they weren't going to be having sex today… Axel was actually a bit relieved by that.

"You did a great job today, Roxas," Axel smiled as they cleared the set. "I'm actually kind of amazed that you're so good at acting."

"If you're trying to compliment me, you're doing an awful job," Roxas laughed, taking the collar around his neck off and handing it to one of the crew members. "But thanks… this has actually been really fun."

Axel chuckled, "You looked so terrified when Demyx dragged you in!"

"Yeah, but I—" Roxas stopped short as a familiar figure stepped in front of him. "Van…"

His ex looked down at him, seeming increasingly nervous, "Hi, Rox…"

"H…how long have you been here…?"

"I saw your whole scene… you did really well…" Vanitas shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "C…can we talk? …Alone?"

Axel took the cue, "I'll be in my dressing room. See you, Rox."

As the redhead walked away, Roxas turned to face Vanitas again, "So… what does this mean? Do you want to be with me?"

"I… I want to _try_ , Rox… I can't guarantee that I'll be able to handle this, but… I love you, and I miss you…"

Roxas smiled a little and grabbed Van's hands in his own, "Thank you… It means a lot to me that you're going to try to accept this. …I love you too, Vanitas."

The raven-haired musician grinned and pulled Roxas into a deep kiss, "So… you'll come home with me?"

"Of course, babe… just let me go change and tell Axel what's going on, okay? I've got some stuff at his house I'll need to pick up some time… Wait for me in the lobby, okay?"

"All right… I'll be waiting," he gave Roxas one more kiss before heading back to the lobby.

Roxas wasn't sure what he was feeling… He was happy, but the thought of telling Axel that he was moving out made him really sad. But… he'd see Axel every day at work. It's not like he would have a chance to miss him or anything. He was back with Vanitas… and he was glad. ...Right?

…

 **A/N:** So much happening! :3 Hopefully the transition between the movie and real life wasn't confusing… It's a fucked up movie, eh? You'll never guess who the writer is… *evil grin.*

Thank you to everybody for your wonderful reviews so far! Keep letting me know what you think! :D

Until next time!

 _Simply Rexene_


	18. Chapter 18

…

 **Chapter Eighteen**

…

"So was the rest of the band totally pissed that you left in the middle of the tour?" Roxas settled into bed after a day of moving his stuff back into their trailer.

"Of course they were… but I don't care. Ventus was starting to get on my nerves anyways, little bitch that he is… and Aqua's creepy mothering thing that she does was pissing me off."

Roxas laughed a little, "She means well… she just wants to make sure you're okay, same as I do. How'd Terra take it?"

"That asshole has never liked me anyways… but he was more than happy to step in and cover the vocals. I swear, the vulture was just waiting for me to quit…"

"…Wait a minute, you quit?"

Vanitas shrugged, "Nah… not officially. But they keep telling me they're gonna kick me out."

"They'd be totally fucked without you. Terra might as well be murdering the vocals when he does them. Besides, he can barely make it through one show without losing his voice," Roxas rolled his eyes, "They'd be stupid to kick you out."

"Ventus' addiction is getting worse… I'm worried about the kid. He gets so strung out that he doesn't remember half the songs…" Vanitas sat down next to him on the bed, clearly stressed out.

"I thought you guys were going to send him to rehab… whatever happened with that?"

He laughed a little, "The kid escaped. Literally pulled off this grand, intricate escape plan and busted out of there. We can't get him to go back…"

"Damn… he really likes his coke…" Roxas mused, a bit impressed by his tenacity.

"As long as Aqua is with him, I think he'll be okay…" Van laid down, turning his bedside lamp off. "Besides, Terra would kick his ass all the way back to rehab if it got really bad."

Roxas immediately snuggled into Vanitas, leaning in to steal a kiss, "I missed you so much… I made some fucking stupid decisions without you…"

"Like agreeing to star in a porno?" Van chuckled uneasily.

"No… like going out with a total creep. Oh, it was awful…"

"You… went out with someone else…?" Van raised an eyebrow, "You didn't mention that…"

The blond laughed, "Okay, so here's what happened… There was this asshole actor starring in the new movie with Axel, and he threatened me into going on a date with him because he said he'd hurt Axel… So I went out with him and apparently he drugged me, then jedi-mind-fucked me into thinking I had a great time. It was fucking ridiculous… We went out for like three days before Axel finally lost it and punched the guy in his face. Oh, and him and Axel used to date too, like ten years ago… isn't that insane?"

Vanitas remained silent for a moment, "…So… he raped you…?"

"I mean, yeah… technically… But I got a good swing in too. You should have seen the look on his face when I hit him. And then we totally ran him off the set. That's why I'm in the movie now."

"Jesus, Roxas… it's like I'm not even talking to the same person…"

The smaller man looked up at him, "What do you mean?"

"You're laying here talking about punching guys and being raped like that's just a normal thing for you now. I remember when you wouldn't hurt a fly… when sex was actually a special thing for you. Now you talk about it so casually…"

"Vanitas, you know that our time together is still incredibly special to me, right? I mean, yeah… I definitely have a more casual attitude about sex now, but… how else could I function in my line of work?"

The raven-haired man just sighed, "I don't know, Rox… I just never thought you'd be in the industry at all…"

"I didn't either… but do you know how much more they're paying me to do this movie? It'll be worth it… Plus, it's nice to be acting again."

"You're fucking people for money, Roxas. If it wasn't being filmed, it'd be illegal," Van deadpanned, pushing the younger off of him and turning away.

Roxas whined softly and flung himself over Van, "Hey, don't shut down on me. You were the one who came to me… You asked me to take you back. You don't get to do this."

"You're different, Roxas… and I need to figure out if it's for better or worse."

"So what're you saying? That after all of this shit, you're just going to leave me again?!" he demanded, sitting up and turning the light on.

Vanitas turned around and scowled, "I'm saying that I need time, Rox! You're not the same guy I was in love with anymore! Let me figure things out!"

"What, so in the meantime you're just going to lead me on? Get my hopes up so you can dash them to pieces when you decide you don't like me anymore?"

"That's not what I'm saying, Roxas… Just… let me adjust to the new you. Now lie down and hush…" Van tugged him back down and flipped the light back off.

The blond pouted a little, "I don't wanna lose you again, Vani… I'll try to be better for you."

"Shh…" Van pulled him into his arms, "Be yourself, Roxas. Just try to understand why I'll need a little time to adjust to all of this."

"Would it help if I didn't talk about my job anymore?"

Van sighed, "It might… at least for now. And try not to mention Axel, okay? I'll try to get along with him, but every time I hear his name all I can do is picture him fucking you…"

"Oh… okay… I'll try not to bring him up…" Roxas mumbled. Axel was his best friend now… how was he supposed to filter him out of every day conversation? They spent more time together than he and Van did during the week.

"It'll get better, Roxy…" Vanitas tried to soothe him, running his fingers through Roxas' touseled blond locks. "I love you…"

There was a strange feeling in his gut… but Roxas ignored it. "I love you too, Vani. I really hope we can make things work this time."

…

Axel was losing it… Helping Roxas move his stuff back out had been the last straw. He was so… fucking… lonely… and he hated it.

Work the next day was difficult for him… he was working with Roxas again, but every time he looked at him he felt like he was being kicked in the chest.

"Fuck…" he grit his teeth, gripping his head as another horrifying headache tore through his brain. He'd been getting headaches more and more often lately, but he was pretty sure it was just from the stress of being totally in love with a guy that had friend-zoned him so hard.

"Axel, are you going to finish the scene or what?" Xigbar's voice floated in one ear and out the other. "Axe… Axel… you look like you're about to throw up. Are you okay?"

Roxas turned around and looked up at him, "Axel? What's wrong?"

"Nothing… I just have a headache…" he grumbled, "Can someone get me some Asprin?"

One of the crew members brought him the Asprin and a cup of water, but it didn't even begin to touch his headache.

"All right… start rolling again… I'm good," he mumbled, trying to get back into his zone.

"Axel, are you sure you're okay?" Roxas asked him again, concerned about the severity of the headache.

He ground his teeth together, wishing that everyone would stop talking to him and just let them finish the scene. "I'm _fine._ Keep filming!"

"All right… action…" Xigbar raised his hands in defense, letting Axel have his way.

The rest of the scene was a blur to him… his head was pounding so hard that he could hardly hear Roxas recite his lines. But somehow he made it through, and it must have been good enough for Xigbar because he called it for the day.

"Is your head still hurting…?" Roxas asked him tentatively, wrapping his robe around himself.

"Eh… I'll live…" he mumbled, trying not to look too hard at the stage lights. Was this a migraine?

The blond furrowed his brow, "You look like you're in a lot of pain, Axe…"

"I just need to sleep it off… Let it go!" he snapped, startling the kid a little.

"Fine… I'll see you tomorrow…" Roxas brushed past him, heading for the locker room.

Axel sighed and headed for his dressing room. Roxas had even moved out of there… Apparently he'd rather share a nasty locker room with the rest of the cast rather than be around him. He was sure it was probably Vanitas' doing… Roxas had backed off from him a lot since they got back together. Sure, they were still friends… but he wasn't priority anymore. And that hurt worse than the headaches.

…

 **A/N:** AXELLLLLL. I love him so much, why am I writing such a sad role for him?! I'VE GONE INSANE!

Heh… I love coke-head Ventus. XD I can just picture him all tweaked out and shit. And don't hate on me for making Aqua and Terra the other band members… I had nobody else!

Ooh, so you all should check out my bestie's fic, "Angel" by Rosekun25. She's awesome. :3 It's kind of dark, but it's good! She's the one I bounce my ideas off of when I write. :P

Anywhoooo… thank you for the support, guys! Keep leaving me those wonderful reviews!

(Any guesses as to why Axel is getting headaches?)

Tata for now!

 _Simply Rexene_


	19. Chapter 19

…

 **Chapter Nineteen**

…

"No."

"Come again?"

"… _No._ "

Axel stared down at Roxas, lifting an eyebrow, "Care to try that one more time, Finn?"

"I'm not doing it," the blond remained defiant as it said in the script.

"Oh, but I think you are…" Axel remained seated on the couch, resting his emerald eyes on the boy cooly. His head was aching like hell again, but he just needed to get through this scene… "Undress me. Now."

Roxas turned his back to the redhead and crossed his arms over his chest. "You can't make me. I wanna go home."

"Home where? To that asshole Nicolas?"

"Well… no… but I wanna be anywhere but here!"

Axel rolled his eyes casually, "Get the fuck over here and undress me like I asked you to ten minutes ago."

He turned back to face him, "You can forget about it. I'm not going to do a single thing you say. You can't make me."

Axel hated what he had to do next… but it was in the script. In a flash of movement, he had Roxas by the throat, trying to make it look like he was gripping hard without actually hurting him. "Yeah? I think—"

But standing up so quickly was a bad idea. Suddenly it was as if the world was melting away and he was being swallowed into a black hole. He couldn't think, couldn't control himself… all he could feel was the blinding pain in his head.

…

"Axel... Axe…" Roxas clawed at the hand around his throat as it suddenly tightened _hard_ , "St…" he couldn't even speak… his airway was completely cut off.

"Axel, what the fuck are you doing?!" Xigbar ran onto the set, trying to pry Axel's hand off the blond.

Tears fell from Roxas' eyes as he started to panic, his vision blackening around the edges. His mind kept flashing back to the night when Van had choked him, but it was only making him panic more.

" _Axel!_ " Xigbar shouted, trying to find some semblence of humanity in the redhead's eyes. They were completely blank… it was as if Axel wasn't even in his body.

Roxas could feel himself starting to slip out of conciousness when he was finally released from the death grip on his neck. He crumpled to the ground, gasping for air and sobbing uncontrollably as he tried to figure out what was happening around him. He could hear people screaming and calling for help, but he could hardly see through his tears. When his vision finally focused… the scene before him was horrifying.

Axel was on the ground in a full-blow grand mal seizure, his entire body convulsing.

"Turn him on his side!" Xion shrieked, running onto set and helping Xigbar get him rolled onto one side. They held him there as he continued to seize, one of the crew members frantically dialing 911.

"Roxas, are you okay?" Demyx appeared by his side.

His voice was hoarse and his throat hurt like hell, "I…I'll be fine…" he breathed shallowly, feeling like he couldn't get enough air into his lungs.

"You're bleeding…" Demy's voice floated above him, but he could hardly focus on anything but his best friend. "Roxas, let me see you…"

He fended the older man off weakly, "I'm fine… we need to help Axel…"

"The ambulance is on the way… they're going to take care of you too, Roxas…"

"I'm fine…" he whispered, but he knew that he wasn't. Even with the adrenaline rush coursing through his veins, he could tell that he was struggling to breathe. He'd been seconds from losing conciousness… from death…

Demyx wouldn't leave him alone, "Jesus… you're bleeding a lot, Rox… His nails dug into your skin…"

"Stop…" he whimpered, swatting at Demy's hands as he tried to fuss over him.

His brain just couldn't process what had happened… it was shutting down on him. The EMT kept asking him questions, but he was in a complete haze… Demyx stayed by him trying to explain what he thought had happened, but nobody was really sure.

Roxas remembered being strapped into a bed of some sort, and he remembered looking over and seeing Axel on a similar stretcher… but the redhead was completely unconcious.

He was fading in and out slowly… he wasn't sure if it was sleep that was overtaking him, or if he'd lost too much blood and oxygen, but he could feel himself starting to pass out. Maybe when he woke up it would all be over… Axel would be fine, and it will have all been a dream.

…

"Roxas… Roxas, c'mon… just wake up…" a familiar voice cut through the darkness enveloping him.

His eyes slowly peeled open, blinking a few times as they tried to adjust to the bright lights around him.

"Oh thank God…"

"Van…" he whispered hoarsely, cringing immediately at how painful it was to speak.

Vanitas grabbed his hand, "Damn it, Roxas… what the hell happened?!" he demanded, looking both pissed and relieved.

"I…" he tried to speak, but it felt like he'd tried to swallow a brillo pad. His throat was absolutely on fire.

"Don't try to speak, Roxas… it'll probably be pretty painful for awhile."

He looked over to find a doctor standing in the room with them, scribbling something on a clipboard, "Wh…what…h…ha…"

"We want to know what exactly happened, doc," Van cut him off.

The doctor nodded and pulled up a chair next to them, "Your coworker Axel had a generalized tonic-clonic seizure, otherwise known as a grand mal seizure. During the tonic phase, the muscles will completely contract, which caused his hand to tighten substantially around your neck for a few seconds."

"Seconds…? Doc, it looks like he was strangled for minutes!"

"It only takes about ten seconds, maybe more, to lose conciousness when being choked so tightly, and even in such a short period of time, the effects can be very visually startling."

Roxas suddenly wanted to know what he looked like, because they were making it sound _bad_. "Is… is Axel…?"

"Your friend is going to be okay. The seizure was caused by an arteriorvenous malformation in his brain, which we're going to repair with a minimally invasive surgery."

He couldn't believe what the doctor was saying… Axel needed brain surgery?

"I don't give a shit about that asshole. Roxas is going to be okay, right?" Vanitas snapped, trying to redirect the conversation to the blond.

"He'll be fine, just sore for a few days. We've had him on oxygen, but it seems like he's able to breathe just fine on his own now. We're discharging him, but I'll give him a prescription to help with the pain."

Roxas glared at Vanitas, "Wh… where's Axel? I need… to see him…"

"We're not visiting him, Rox… he tried to kill you," Van helped him out of bed, "We're going home so you can rest…"

" _No_ ," Roxas growled, yanking his arm away from Van. "I'm going to see him…"

Vanitas stared at his boyfriend, completely dumbfounded, "He literally almost murdered you, Roxas."

"It was an accident… My best friend needs brain surgery… and I'm going to be there for him…" he grit his teeth in pain as he spoke. The sudden grip on his forearm startled him and he nearly turned around and decked Vanitas in the face, " _Let go of me_ …"

"You're coming home with me, Roxas."

The blond scowled and tore his arm away from Vanitas again, " _Fuck off._ "

…

"Roxas… oh shit, Rox…" the redhead melted down the moment his friend appeared in the doorway of his hospital room. "They told me what happened… I… I'm so sorry…"

The younger was by his side immediately, "Quiet… It wasn't your fault and I know that…"

"I almost… and you… oh God, that had to have been terrifying…" Axel started to sob, seeing how deeply he'd pierced the kid's skin with his nails. They weren't even that long… how hard had he been gripping…?

"Axel, I'm fine… but you… they said you have something wrong with your brain?"

He sighed, "I… I had a feeling something was wrong. I've been getting horrifying migraines lately, which I guess is one of the side effects of this thing… along with seizures, apparently…"

"Are you scared…?" Roxas tried to ignore the burning in his throat, not wanting Axel to hear him talking so hoarsely.

"I'm terrified, Rox… they told me they're going to have to do surgery to fix it… and…" _And I'm alone… I've always been alone… I have nobody…_

Roxas leaned over and wrapped Axel in a hug, "I'll be here for you, Axe… every step of the way…"

"But… Is Vanitas going to be okay with that…?"

"I honestly don't give a fuck… You're my best friend, Axel, and you're going to need a support system through this. I mean… it's _brain surgery_ ," he grimaced a little, his throat throbbing in pain.

Axel could feel himself choking up again, tears springing back into his eyes, "I don't deserve this, Roxas… not after what I did to you…"

"It was an accident… and I'll be fine. I'm just a little sore is all."

"You shouldn't be choosing me over your boyfriend…" he muttered, his heart heavy in his chest.

Roxas shook his head, "It's not up for discussion, Axe… I'm going to be here by your side no matter what. You're going to have to call security to get me out of here, and even then I'll put up a god damned fight."

He had to chuckle a little at that, "You really turned into a little scrapper, didn't you?"

"Only when something is worth fighting for."

…

 **A/N:** O.O Sooo… that all just happened. BLAME ROSEKUN. The seizure was her idea! ;D Seriously though, she's been amazing to plot with. We have similar twisty minds. :3

AXELLLL. Now he needs brain surgery! NOOOOO. But also, AWWWW! Roxas is finally being a good friend! BONDING. THEY'RE BONDING!

Be proud of me! I actually did a ton of research on AVMs, the condition Axel has. They really do cause headaches and grand mal seizures, and all of the info on the tonic-clonic stages is true as well! Yay Google! (Sometimes I just wing shit, but this time I actually looked it up!)

Lemme know what you think! :3

Lovey love!

 _Simply Rexene_


	20. Chapter 20

…

 **Chapter Twenty**

…

"Roxas, don't you wanna go home and get some rest…?" Axel gave him a concerned look as he watched the kid yawn again.

"N…no… I'm good…" he mumbled sleepily, curling up in the armchair next to Axel's bed.

The actor huffed and poked Roxas, "C'mon… I haven't even had the surgery yet… don't you wanna sleep in your own bed?"

"I'm afraid to go home…" he admitted, "I kind of told Van to fuck off when he wouldn't let me come see you…"

Axel felt his heart jump a little at that. Had Roxas really chosen him over Van? He still couldn't believe it. "You're going to have to face him eventually, Rox…"

"Not tonight… I'm too tired tonight…" he squirmed around on the chair in an attempt to get comfortable.

"Roxas… c'mere. You're never going to be able to sleep there," Axel told him, scooting over in his bed and patting the empty space next to him.

The blond looked over at him curiously, "N…no, Axe, I couldn't…"

"C'mon… there's more than enough room, and you need to get some decent sleep."

Reluctantly, Roxas crawled into the bed next to his best friend. It was certainly more comfortable than the chair, but he also couldn't get his heart to stop racing. Damn, Axel was warm… he practically radiated heat. "Th…thanks…"

"Now go to sleep…" Axel told him, using the remote on the side of his bed to turn out the lights. He usually hated hospitals, but with Roxas here, he was finding it much more tolerable. Yeah, he was terrified… but at least he had his friend.

…

"Axel…? Axel Marshall?" the tall blue-haired nurse that has just entered the room had to look at his chart again to confirm his suspicions. "Holy shit…"

"You've got to be kidding me… Saix? Is that you?!"

Roxas stared back and forth between the two overly-excited men, trying his best to catch on, "Axe, you know this guy?"

"Ohh, you have no idea, Roxy… Saix here was my best friend growing up! Dude, I haven't seen you since we were 13 years old!" he exclaimed, motioning the nurse over to the side of his bed for a hug.

"How've you been, man?! I mean… disregarding the AVM that popped up in your brain and everything…" Saix gladly hugged him, setting the chart down and sitting on the edge of the bed so that Roxas couldn't even see Axel anymore.

Roxas furrowed his brow a little, a small pang of jealousy running through him, "I'm Roxas, by the way…" he mumbled, but the two ignored him.

"I've been great! I mean… lonely as fuck without you to make trouble with, but life's been pretty good!"

Saix laughed, "Oh shit, you remember how much Mrs. Gervis next door hated us? That old bitch was in here a couple weeks ago for—get this—cosmetic surgery."

"Well who the fuck is _she_ trying to impress? Her cranky ass husband?"

The blond huffed a little and crossed his arms over his chest. Obviously he wasn't going to be included in their conversation, nor was he going to be filled in on any details.

"So you're a nurse here now?" Axel was grinning from ear to ear.

"Nah, I'm actually a surgical intern. Gonna put these hands to use on something other than pranking people!"

Axel chuckled, "Aww, shit… you've gotta be in on my surgery, then. Are you gonna be there? That'd be sweet!"

"Even better… I'll be assisting!"

"Oh hell yeah! …You'd better not fuck up my brain, though!"

Roxas felt uneasy about some intern going anywhere near Axel's brain… "Aren't interns supposed to, like… _watch_ the surgeries?"

"Yeah, but this one is so simple that my resident is letting me help out a little. Don't worry, I won't be doing any of the big stuff," Saix finally acknowledged the blond. "Wait a minute… Axel, you old dog. Is this your boyfriend?"

"I'm his _friend_ ," Roxas narrowed his eyes on the blunette, "We work together at the studio."

Saix turned back to Axel, "Studio? Don't tell me you finally became a famous actor!"

"Well… sort of? I kind of… star in 'adult movies'…"

"Whoaaa…. you're a pornstar?!" the intern shouted a bit too loudly.

Axel whacked him on the arm, "Shut the fuck up, you asshole! Yeah, I'm a pornstar… and I'm kind of offended that you haven't seen any of my films!"

"Well excuse me for not recognizing 'your Highness,' but I don't watch porn!"

"Right, like I buy that… what're you into? Hentai?"

Saix just chuckled, "You're still sharp as ever, eh?"

"Eh… not sharp enough to realize that my brain was fucked up, apparently… Do these things really just show up out of the blue like this?"

He shrugged, "Some people can go their entire lives with one and not even experience a headache. But then sometimes they get too big and cause all sorts of problems, like your seizure."

"So… am I like… what's the word…? Epileptic? Am I epileptic now?"

"Nooo…" Saix reassured him, "Once we get in there and remove it, you shouldn't experience any other symptoms."

"I just don't get it… I felt fine up until the last few days. Shouldn't I have felt sick or something my whole life?"

Saix shook his head, "Nope… That's the thing about AVMs… they're sneaky motherfuckers."

"So I assume you came in here for a reason, right? Like, do you need to examine me or something?"

He hopped up off the bed and grabbed the chart, "Yepp! We just want to make sure everything is going to be fine in surgery tomorrow."

Roxas tuned out as Saix went through his examination, curling up in his chair and staring out the window. Maybe it was time for him to go see Vanitas… Axel had Saix to keep him company for now. He could probably slip out for a couple hours and come back.

…

"Van…? Are you home…?"

"I shouldn't be, and you know it," Vanitas stepped out of the kitchen, sending Roxas a glare.

Roxas sighed, sitting down on the couch, "I'm sorry that I snapped at you yesterday… I could have handled that a lot better."

"I just don't get it, Roxas. He nearly killed you. Why would you want to be with him?"

"He's my best friend, Van… and it was an accident. You nearly killed me last time you were off your meds, and I still love you. Are you trying to tell me that this was any different?"

Vanitas sat down across from him, "Are you… in love with him?"

"What? No!" he exclaimed, maybe a little too loudly. "Van… I love you, and you alone. He's my friend, and he's got nobody else to help him through this. Imagine if you suddenly had some sort of freak injury that required surgery, but when you woke up nobody was there. He needs me…"

The elder sighed in relief, "I… I should have tried harder to understand… You're right, Rox. I guess I just freaked out when I saw that you were hurt and immediately blamed him."

"So… we're good? 'Cause I've been kind of terrified to come home…"

"Of course we're good, Rox… and don't ever be scared to come home! You know that sometimes I just need to talk things out. I'm the king of overreacting, but it's your job to put me in my place, okay?"

Roxas smiled a little and moved to give him a kiss, "I think I can handle that. But I am going back to the hospital tonight… His surgery is tomorrow."

"Well… can't you just go in early tomorrow then? I've been missing sleeping next to you…" Van gave him his famous puppydog eyes.

"I… I guess so… Lemme call Axel, okay?"

He nodded, "I'm gonna go hop in the shower really quick."

Roxas pulled out his phone and dialed the number to Axel's hospital room.

"Hello? This is totally Axel speaking."

The blond's face fell, "Give the phone to Axel, Saix…"

"You're no fun… here Axe, it's the grumpy kid."

"What's up, Roxas?" Axel's voice finally came over the reciever.

He sighed softly, "Do you… uhm… do you need me to come back tonight? Or can I come in tomorrow morning?"

"Ooh, gonna spend the night with Vani, huh? See, I told you he'd be fine!"

"So…?"

Axel chuckled, "I'll be all right, Rox. Saix is on call tonight anyways so he's just gonna hang out with me and catch up."

"Oh… okay…" he mumbled, feeling that pang of jealousy again.

"See you tomorrow, bud. Have extra fun for me tonight, got it?"

Roxas swallowed hard, "Got it… Bye…"

He felt sick to his stomach, and he couldn't figure out why. He definitely didn't like the way that Axel and Saix were bonding again, but he couldn't justify why he'd be jealous. Axel was still his best friend… he knew that. Hell, he should be happy that Axel found another friend. The guy needed them. So what was his problem?

…

 **A/N:** Don't hate me! I _had_ to bring Saix in. I just couldn't resist. Little Roxy is just super duper jealous, huh? :3

So I think a lot of you are a bit confused as to why I just suddenly threw Axel into a seizure… The point of it was that it was a totally random medical emergency thing. Shit like that can literally come out of nowhere. And the ultimate goal was to bring in Saix and get Roxas all jelly too. I promise there's a method to my madness!

I have no idea how long this fic is going to be. I guess I'll just keep writing until my brain gives up. I'm sitting in a random Subway right now waiting for my Yorkie to get groomed, and I don't have WiFi, so… onto Chapter 21 I go! They'll probably be posted at the same time.

Keep leaving your fabulous reviews! I love them!

 _Simply Rexene_


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N:** Okay, so I do realize that Saix is incredibly out of character. I'm aware of that. I only chose him because of the friendship between Isa and Lea when they were teenagers. And it is hinted that Isa had a comical side, even though he was always more mature than Lea. I just kind of amped it up a little. I understand that most people like the fics to keep more true to character, but I really only played with his personality a little. He's honestly more like Isa than Saix, but I used the Nobody names for everyone else in the fic, so I didn't want to call him Isa in this one. Hopefully that sheds some light on the whole Saix thing. I don't want it to turn anyone off from the story! But I understand if it does.

…

 **Chapter Twenty One**

…

Roxas could feel his heart pounding in doubletime as he waited… and waited… and waited some more. He knew that brain surgery wasn't going to be a quick thing, but _damn_. And he'd been banished to the main waiting room in the surgical wing too, which was making him even more anxious. Twice now he'd seen doctor's talking to families that then all burst into tears. It… it wasn't reassuring.

When he finally saw Saix walking toward him with a somber look on his face, he felt like his heart would literally give out right there. "He's… he's…"

"Oh shit…" Roxas choked up immediately, tears springing to his eyes.

"He's fine! …Damn, you should see the look on your face right now. Axel's gonna be just fine. He pulled through amazingly, and the surgery went exactly as planned."

Roxas could have punched the guy square in the face for pulling that shit with him. "When can I see him?" he grit his teeth together, ready to be done with this guy.

"Give him a couple hours in post-op to wake up. I'll let you know when you can visit."

"I'll be in the cafeteria," his voice was short and filled with irritation.

Saix nodded, "Got it. But hey, stay away from the stroganoff. It… it isn't beef like it says…"

" _Right_ ," he growled, turning on his heel and walking away. He couldn't handle looking at the overly-happy blunette's face for even another second.

…

After what felt like hours of sitting in the cafeteria playing around on his phone and drinking shitty coffee, the obnoxious intern appeared once again. "Hey, he's awake now if you wanna see him."

"He already woke up?! Damn it, I wanted to be there!" Roxas dashed out of his seat, the taller man close on his heels.

"Oh, relax… I was there when he woke up, so he wasn't alone or anything."

Roxas shot him a glare, "That wasn't the point. He's my best friend. I should have been there."

"He's fine! He's still super groggy anyways. He won't even know the difference."

When he finally made it to Axel's room, the redhead was fast asleep again. "Are you kidding me? I missed it… He's gonna think I didn't wait…"

"God, you're uptight. Calm the fuck down and let him sleep. You'll be here next time he wakes up."

"I should have been here the first time…" he mumbled, sitting down next to Axel's bed and glowering up at Saix, "Unless you have something to do as a doctor, get the hell out of here."

Saix raised an eyebrow, "What the hell did I ever do to you, kid?"

"What? Nothing… I just want to be alone with him now, okay?" he quickly covered his tracks.

"Oh… I get it. You like him, don't you?"

Roxas tried not to yell, exclaimed in a hushed whisper instead, "No! I have a boyfriend, you idiot!"

"Right… So you wouldn't care if I asked him out when he's recovered then?"

"I… I thought you guys were just friends…?"

Saix laughed quietly, "Axe was my first kiss, and I was his. I had a huge crush on him… But when his parents died, he was shipped out of town to live with some foster family and I never saw him again. But you know what they say about best friends… no matter how long you're apart, it's like no time has passed when you get back together."

"…Whatever. Do what you want. Like I said, I have a boyfriend."

"All right," he grinned, stepping towards the doorway, "I think I will."

Roxas resisted the urge to roll his eyes, just turning his attention to Axel. His eyes immediately fell on the side of his head which, from what he could see under the bandages, had been partially shaved. Axel was nottt going to be happy about that… he loved his hair.

"Hmm… Roxy…?" the sudden voice made him jump a little.

"Axel! You're awake!" he grinned happily.

The redhead groaned, "Hush… I've got a killer headache…"

"Well I can imagine," he quieted down, chuckling a little.

"I think they told me everything went well… or did I dream that?"

Roxas shook his head, "Nah, Saix was already in here when you woke up the first time. Everything was perfect. You're headed for a full recovery."

"Saix… where is he?"

"He… had other rounds to make. He said he'd be back later."

Axel smiled sleepily, "Good… I can't believe I ran into him again."

"Yeah, it seems like you two were really good friends…" Roxas trailed off, his own smile fading.

"He was my first crush, actually… He was always the more mature one, if you can believe it, and he balanced out my crazy side. He was definitely a bit of a mastermind when it came to pranking people, though I was always the one that actually pulled them off."

Roxas raised an eyebrow, "He seems kind of hyper and goofy now…"

"It's his defense mechanism. I think he's really nervous to be around me again, so he's acting a little out of character. I saw him talking to the other doctors and he's super calm and serious."

"I think he likes you," Roxas blurted out suddenly, immediately wishing he hadn't said anything.

Axel blinked a few times, then laughed, "Yeah… that wouldn't surprise me…"

"Would you ever go out with him…?"

"Mmm… maybe…" Axel's voice started to fade as his eyes began to close, "'m sleepy…"

Roxas smiled softly, "Get some rest, Axe… I'll be here."

…

Roxas felt like punching a hole through the wall as Saix shoved him out of the way again to examine Axel. All week he'd been dealing with this shit, being pushed aside so they could _bond_. "Give it to me straight, Sai… how bad is the bald spot? I haven't seen it yet," Axel asked him as he changed the bandage on his head.

The intern laughed, "Of course that's the one thing you'd be concerned about. It's not too bad… honestly, you could shave the other side to match and pull off a pretty sweet death hawk."

"Ooh, good idea. I can be metal as fuck," he chuckled, glancing over at Roxas, "Think I can pull it off, Rox?"

"…Sure," he mumbled, pouting in the corner yet again.

Axel furrowed his brow in confusion, "What's wrong, Roxas?"

"What? Nothing," he shrugged, "You'd look great."

"So when am I gonna be able to dye my hair again? I know my roots are getting bad," Axel asked Saix, running a hand through his hair, which had about a quarter inch of dark brown roots showing.

Saix rolled his eyes, "I've never met a guy as weird about his hair as you are."

"So you want me to believe that your blue is all natural? Hm?"

He grumbled a little, "Hush… you know my natural color is gross. Anyways… You'll have to wait until your incision is completely healed, and even then I'd have someone else do it to make sure you don't get any dye near it."

"You think I achieve this gorgeousness myself? I've got a stylist to keep me looking human," Axel laughed, grinning over at Roxas, "Roxy here has met her."

Roxas thought back to his wonderful hair-removal experience and shuddered, "Yeah, she's great…"

"You're healing quickly, Axe… I can't believe it's already been a week since your surgery," Saix told him, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

Roxas couldn't believe it either. The bruises on his throat were finally starting to fade, and things with Vanitas had been going… okay. "You know what? I've got to get home… I think Van made dinner. I'll visit again tomorrow, Axe."

"Actually, you won't need to. Axe, we're sending you home. The neurosurgeon is going to do his own examination to confirm, but based on everything I see, you're ready to get the hell out of here."

Axel grinned, "Seriously? That's awesome!"

"Wait a minute… but he had brain surgery! How can it be safe to send him home?!" Roxas exclaimed.

"The best place to recover is from the comfort of your own home. We have no reason to keep him here anymore. He's healing very well."

"But… he lives alone. Is that safe?"

Axel looked over at Roxas, "Well… I was kind of hoping… maybe you could stay with me again for a little while…? Van can come too!"

"You… would want Vanitas and I to live with you?"

"Well, why not? Like you said, Roxy, it isn't safe for me to be alone right now. I'll give you your privacy and everything… plus, Saix said he'd stop by every so often too and check up on me. But I need someone to drive me to my follow up appointments and make sure I don't, like… die alone in my bedroom or something."

Roxas chewed on his lower lip nervously, "I mean, yeah… I'll ask Vanitas. I'm sure it'll be fine with him."

Right… because Vanitas was ever so understanding about Axel. He didn't even like when Roxas mentioned his name, so he couldn't imagine that Van would feel too great about living with him. But he also couldn't let Axel try to recover by himself. Again, he was faced with the choice between Axel and Vanitas… and he knew who he'd choose.

…

 **A/N:** Ooh, Saix is still crushing on Axel! Old crushes die hard, I suppose. But Roxas is just a jealous mess anymore! I feel like him and Saix are gonna end up fighting it out… (And notice how I haven't mentioned his scars yet… Mayhaps he hasn't yet acquired them…?)

Again, I know Saix is out of character in this! I just couldn't pass up the chance to bring him in as an old childhood friend because of the Lea/Isa thing. (Besides, I literally have nobody else to use. XD)

I loves you all and hope that you keep leaving me your thoughts and such!

 _Simply Rexene_


	22. Chapter 22

...

 **Chapter Twenty Two**

...

"Van, I have to- ...oh," Roxas stopped short in the living room, staring into a set of blue eyes.

"Hi, Roxas," Ventus wore a Cheshire-grin, clearly amused by the blond's confusion.

His eyes scanned the older man in front of him, noting that not much had changed since the last time they met. Roxas had to admit, they did look similar like everyone always told them, though Ven was sickly skinny and had dyed his sandy-blond hair jet black to try and look more "metal." His skin was just not a healthy pale and his arms were riddled in scratches and needle marks like always. His eyes were sunken, but he tried to cover it up by wearing dark black makeup around them. All in all, he just looked... like an addict.

"What're you doing here?" he snapped, already irritated with his presence in their home.

The musician just shrugged, "We ended the tour early and Van said I could chill here for awhile."

"I thought you were living with some chick."

"Who, Alice? Nah... she kicked me out before the tour even started."

Roxas rolled his eyes, "Shocker there... Where's Van?"

"Fuck if I know."

"He left you here alone...?"

Ven just chuckled lowly, "You hate me, don't you? ...I don't blame you, really, but c'mon... you gotta give me a chance here."

"Ven, the last interaction I had with you involved you selling my laptop for coke. You're God damned lucky that Van convinced me not to turn you in to the police. Excuse me for not wanting you in my home."

"Say whatever you want, man... I'm clean now," he boasted, crossing his arms behind his head smugly. "Van's out getting us a pizza. He'll be back any minute."

Roxas looked at the time on his phone. He was supposed to be picking up Axel in an hour, but he had no idea what Vanitas was going to say about him moving back in there. Obviously he wouldn't be joining him, since he decided to have a coke-addict houseguest move in without asking him. "I've got to go pack... Don't touch anything."

"Dude... You're so fucking uptight," Ven laughed, "And what the fuck are you packing for anyways? Leaving Van?"

"No, I've got to go stay with my friend for awhile. He just had brain surgery."

Ventus lifted an eyebrow, "So... You won't be around for awhile?"

" _Why_?" Roxas turned quickly to look at him, immediately finding that suspicious.

"No reason. Just keep packing," he wore a smirk on his face that made Roxas incredibly uneasy.

He tried to ignore the gut feeling he had that something was up as he packed enough to at least get him through a week with Axel. He'd likely be stopping by to see Van often enough that he could just grab some more clothes as he needed them.

"Roxas, you home?"

He poked his head out of the closet and yelled, "I'm back here!"

"...Why're you packing? Oh shit... You're not leaving me, are you?" Van approached him with a terrified expression on his face.

"What? No! Look, Axel needs someone to stay with him while he recovers. I was going to ask if you'd come with me, but it seems as though you've offered the guest room to Ventus again, and I don't trust him alone in our house."

Van stared at him for a long moment, "So you're moving back in with Axel."

"Just until he recovers enough to be by himself again. And I'll come visit you and shit. It's not like I'm disappearing."

"I feel like this isn't really a discussion, Rox. Are you asking me if it's okay or telling me that you're going to do it?"

Roxas scoffed, "Why do I need your permission? I'm just trying to help my sick friend."

"Can't that Saix guy take care of him?"

" _No_ ," Roxas grit his teeth at the mention of the blunette, "I mean... He's a surgeon, he isn't going to have time."

Vanitas furrowed his brow, "What the hell do you have against that guy anyways? Every time you talk about him you get all vicious."

"Nothing... I just don't like him, I guess."

"Yeah? So... Is he going to ask Axel out?"

Roxas' nose scrunched up as he tried not to react to the question. He knew Van was testing him, but he couldn't help himself, "He'd better fucking not."

"Why's that?" Vanitas pressed further, only solidifying his theory about Roxas' jealousy.

"He just can't!" Roxas snapped, slamming his suitcase shut and breathing heavily.

Van leaned against the frame of the door, "You're jealous."

"I'm not jealous..." he growled, unable to look Van in the eye.

"Oh yeah? I bet they're gonna sleep together on their first date. I wonder if Saix is as good of a submissive as you are... What do you think?"

Roxas balled his fists up, grinding his teeth together furiously, "Stop..."

"Ooh, I can just picture Saix moaning his name now... Begging him for more..." Van continued to push, watching the anger build up inside Roxas.

The blond's lip started to twitch as he bit back a comment, trying to breathe calmly.

"Just admit it, Roxas. Say it to my fucking face. You're in love with him."

"I... I'm not..." he struggled to find the words to say, but he was lost. "It was an accident, Van..." he finally broke down, bursting into tears as he admitted it.

Vanitas' face fell and he attempted to keep his cool, "All right... So... You _do_ love him..."

"I don't know how it happened, Van... I kept telling myself that he was my friend, but I can't control my feelings..."

"Are you in love with me anymore?"

Roxas turned his gaze to the floor, sniffling a little, "I think so..."

"You either are or you're not, Roxas."

"I... I _was_..."

Vanitas looked like someone had kicked him in the stomach with a steel-toed boot. "I've been trying _so_ hard for you, Roxas... I've stayed on my meds, I've tried to accept this whole porn thing... I even tried to accept Axel..."

"I know, Van... I know... I just don't feel like we fit together right anymore..." Roxas mumbled, his heart heavy in his chest.

"So... This is it. This is really the end, huh? We're done for good..." Van started to tear up as well, though he attempted to hide it.

Roxas exhaled slowly, "I guess so..."

"Do you want the trailer, or...?"

"No... You keep it. I can stay with ...him..."

There was a long, awkward silence between them. Roxas stood by the bed with his suitcase, Van in the doorway. But then Van suddenly blurted out, "I've been sleeping with Ventus. Not since we got back together the last time, but... it's been going on for awhile."

"...Oh," Roxas was surprised by that. He didn't even know Ventus liked men. "Uhm... Okay..."

"And... you aren't even remotely jealous..." Van sighed, knowing that it truly was over. "Let me know when you want to start packing up all of your stuff. I'll help you out..."

Roxas picked up his suitcase and nodded, "Thanks, I guess. I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. You can't help how you feel. Now... go steal Axel right out from under that surgeon's nose."

He could see how much Vanitas was hurting, but he knew that nothing he could do or say would comfort him. Instead, he just silently left the house, ignoring some backhanded comment from Ventus on his way out.

Now he just had to find the right way to tell Axel that he loved him.

...

 **A/N:** OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG.

...That is all.

 _Simply Rexene_


	23. Chapter 23

...

 **Chapter Twenty Three**

...

The entire drive to the hospital had Roxas completely on edge. His entire body was vibrating with nervous excitement as he tried to plan out in his head how he was going to tell Axel that he loved him. Ever since he'd made the realization he couldn't stop his heart from pounding in his chest... He'd never felt like this before, even with Vanitas.

He parked as close to the front door as he could, nearly running inside. He didn't know why he was in such a rush; he just felt like there was a huge weight on his chest that he needed to get rid of.

"Axel, I-" he stopped short in the doorway of his room and literally felt his heart breaking into a million little pieces.

Axel and Saix were locked in an embrace on his bed, making out with each other like horny teenagers. "Nn... Stop, Sai... Roxas is here," the redhead pushed him off, looking embarrassed.

"I... I can come back..." Roxas backed up a couple steps, feeling like his legs were going to give out.

"No, come in! I'm almost ready to go, I think I just need to sign some stuff," Axel waved him into the room.

Saix wore a victorious smirk on his face, enjoying the blond's reaction to their kiss. "Finally asked Axel out like I said I was going to," he told him, "Things got a little out of control..."

"Can you believe it, Rox? I don't have to die alone anymore!" Axel laughed, flipping through the clipboard Saix had given him and signing where he needed to.

"That's great, Axe..." he mumbled, feeling hollow inside. "Uhm... Van isn't going to be coming with us... We broke up."

Axel looked up at him in surprise, "Holy shit... Roxas, I'm sorry. Was it because of me?"

"No... He was fucking his bandmate, Ventus."

"Damn..." Saix raised his eyebrows, "That's cold."

Roxas just shrugged, "It's fine. I think I fell out of love with him awhile ago... I was just in denial about it."

"What makes you say that?" Axel wondered, "I mean... you never mentioned it before."

 _Oh you know... Just busy falling in love with you..._ "I dunno... Nothing with him felt right anymore."

"Oh... Okay. Well, I guess I'm ready to go now, right?" he looked up at Saix for approval.

"Yeah," he nodded, "Though I wish you could stay. I'm gonna miss seeing you every day. You made coming to work so much better."

"You'll see me tomorrow for our date, silly," Axel laughed, standing up and giving him a quick kiss. "You ready to go, Rox?"

He sighed heavily, "Yeah, sure..."

...

The car ride to Axel's house was starting to get on Roxas' nerves. The redhead wouldn't stop asking him about Van, and he was just bursting to tell him what really happened.

"So did you find them in bed together? Or did he just tell you?"

"He told me..." Roxas was short with him, really wishing that Saix hadn't gotten to him first.

Axel furrowed his brow, "I don't understand... Why would he just tell you? I thought he was the one that wanted you back in the first place."

"I guess he just felt guilty..."

"I feel like you aren't telling me everything here, Rox..." he kept on pressing, driving Roxas insane.

His hands gripped at the steering wheel, "There's nothing else."

"I can tell you're lying to me, Roxas."

Suddenly Roxas pulled off the road into a parking lot, slamming the car into park and turning to face him, "You wanna know why we broke up? Because I'm in love with you. And I was coming to the hospital to tell you how I felt and when I saw you with Saix I felt like my heart was being ripped in half. Happy?"

Axel's eyes went wide and he stared at the blond for a long moment, completely dumbfounded, "I... I had no idea..."

"I didn't either, until I started feeling these fits of jealous rage whenever Saix was around. I guess it just kind of snuck up on me..."

"But-"

"No, I get it. I was too late. You deserve to be happy with Saix," Roxas cut him off, wanting to smash his head against the steering wheel.

Axel growled, "Let me talk, Roxas."

"Fine..."

"You realize that I've been in love with you since the day we met, right? This whole time I never thought I had a chance, and now..." he took in a shaky breath, "Now you're telling me that you feel the same?"

Roxas nodded, "I love you so much it hurts..." he whispered, unable to look at him.

"Look at me, Rox..." Axel told him.

He glanced up at the redhead only to be grabbed and pulled into a deep, intoxicating kiss. They'd kissed before, but it was nothing like this one... This one shared so much love between them that it could have broken a damned curse.

"Wait... Wait, Axe... What about Saix?" he asked, reluctantly pulling away.

"I'll call him and cancel."

Roxas smiled a little, "Really?"

"I was going to give him a chance because you were taken, but... Love is love, Roxas. Why would I choose him?"

"Do you have any idea how jealous I was?" Roxas laughed, starting the car again.

Axel thought back to his behaviour, "Now that you mention it, you definitely seemed really cranky the whole time. That was all because of him?"

"He told me he was gonna ask you out and I almost attacked him..." Roxas admitted, blushing furiously as he got back on the road.

"Damn... And I had no idea the whole time..." he shook his head, chuckling. "You're kind of confusing, Roxas."

The blond shrugged, "I kind of confuse myself sometimes."

"So... You really broke up with Vanitas for me?"

Roxas laughed, "Yeah, Axe... I did it all for you."

...

"Fuckkk..." Axel groaned, pawing for Roxas to come back to him, "C'mere..."

"Axel, we can't... You literally just had brain surgery. You need to get some sleep," Roxas fended him off, knowing that sleeping together was an awful idea right now.

The redhead grumbled, "At least spoon with me... I liked when we would cuddle in my hospital bed."

"I knew that was all you wanted," Roxas chuckled, "Let me go get my pajama pants on."

"Just get naked... I'll keep you warm," Axel was already half undressed, and currently kicking his pants off.

Roxas shook his head, "Too tempting. You're just gonna try to grope me in my sleep."

"Damn it... Fine. Just wear your boxers, then."

"Really? You can't handle me being away for even a couple minutes?" he smirked, stripping down to his boxers and crawling into Axel's bed.

Axel pulled him into his arms immediately, snuggling into the smaller man happily, "Nope. Now that I have you to myself, you're stuck with me."

Roxas sighed in content, finally feeling normal again. "And Saix took it okay?"

"I just told him that I didn't feel ready to date anyone while I was recovering... I'll explain more later. He seemed okay, though. Just disappointed."

"I feel bad, but..."

"I know," Axel agreed, "It sucks, but it happened. He's just going to have to move on."

Roxas nodded, "Are you going to stay friends with him?"

"I dunno, are you gonna be a big jellyfish every time he's around?"

He laughed, "Now that you're all mine, I think I can contain it."

"Mm... I dunno, seeing you in a jealous rage would be kinda hot."

"Don't get yourself excited, Axe... I'll call your doctor tomorrow and see when it'll be okay for you to have sex again, but I'm not going to risk anything going wrong until we know for sure."

The redhead grumbled and started to nibble at his neck, "You're no fun..."

"Oh, I can be all kinds of fun, babe... You have no idea..." he smirked, hearing Axel whimper in his ear.

"Not fair... You keep turning me on..."

Roxas smiled, reaching over and turning off the light, "Go to bed, Axel."

"You can't hold me responsible if I fuck you in my sleep," Axel warned him jokingly, pulling him even closer.

"I love you..." he whispered, the words still feeling strange on his lips.

Axel grinned, finally settling down and closing his eyes, "I love you too, Roxas."

...

 **A/N:** Awww... Finally! Of course, it wouldn't be a drama if there wasn't more drama involved! I'm excited for what I have planned next... :3 Even thought it's delightfully evil.

Continue leaving me your wonderous reviews, and check out my newest fic, Triple Threat! It's going to be quite the rollercoaster of drama as well, and it stars our favorite trio of girls!

See ya later!

 _Simply Rexene_


	24. Chapter 24

...

 **Chapter Twenty Four**

...

"Shit, Roxas, you didn't have to do all this," Axel couldn't wipe the grin off his face as he sat down to the fully set dinner table. It had literally been years since he'd had a homemade dinner, and whatever Roxas had cooked up smelled absolutely amazing.

"Of course I didn't _have_ to. I wanted to!" he chirped happily, sitting down across from him.

Axel just stared at the food in front of him, "So you really made all of this from scratch?"

"Everything," he smiled, "It's balsamic chicken with a lemon cream sauce, cheese and garlic mashed potatoes, a chopped tomato and cucumber salad, and some fucking amazing dinner rolls from the local bakery. I guess I didn't technically make those..."

"Rox, this is... What did I do to deserve this?"

The blond chuckled, "You must've dated some seriously shitty guys, Axel. I didn't really mean for this to be some big thing. I just like cooking, and I thought you'd enjoy some real food for once."

He seemed genuinely shocked by that. Apparently he really _had_ only dated shitty people. "You're a special kind of amazing, Roxas."

"Oh hush..." Roxas blushed, "Now eat before it gets cold!"

You'd think Axel had never tasted food before based on his reaction to the meal. If such a thing as a food orgasm existed, he was having one. "Holy fuck, Roxas... Where did you learn to cook like this?"

"I didn't... I just kinda go by smells and stuff," he shrugged, "I'm glad you like it."

"You've got a gift for this, Rox... What the hell are you doing in the porn industry?"

Roxas smirked, "That wasn't by choice. I seriously had no idea what I was getting into when I applied for that internship."

"So you went to school to become a director, right?"

"That's what I was aiming for, yeah... But I doubt it'll ever happen," he sighed softly.

Axel frowned, "You seem to enjoy acting, though."

"Of course I do. But it's a little much going from high school plays to huge porn films. I mean, don't you ever wish you could star in real movies?" Roxas wondered. Axel definitely had the talent for it.

"I dunno, Rox... You don't just wake up one day and become a movie star. I wouldn't even know where to look for work. Besides, Xigbar treats me well and I know I'm good at what I do."

Roxas looked at him curiously. He'd almost forgotten that there was still so much he had to learn about Axel, including all of his insecurities. Apparently his comfort zone stopped at the studio. It was a little surprising, considering the air of confidence that Axel tended to radiate wherever he went.

"Rox...?" Axel waved a hand in front of his face, "You spaced out a little, hun."

"Sorry... I was just thinking about you," he smiled, meeting Axel's gorgeous green eyes.

Axel chuckled, "Is there any chance you called the doctor today?"

"I might have," he grinned evilly, "Now if only I could remmeber what he said..."

The redhead whined softly, "C"mon... It's been long enough, right? My incision is almost completely healed!"

"Gosh, I just wish I could remember..." Roxas teased.

The look on Axel's face turned determined and he stood up, walking over to Roxas and cornering him in his chair, "I'm going to make you tell me, Roxy."

"I'd like to see you try," he challenged him playfully. What he didn't expect Axel to do was to pick him up out of his chair and toss him over his shoulder. "Axe, be careful! You're gonna hurt yourself!"

"I've been feeling fine for days, Rox. Haven't even had a headache today. Besides..." he headed upstairs for their bedroom, "I called the doctor myself to make sure you weren't gonna try to be overprotective."

Roxas shook his head, laughing. He should have known. "And what did they tell you?"

"They told me that we could have done this days ago, you dork," Axel told him, dropping him on the bed and crawling over him. "How long have you been keeping it from me?"

"I just wanted to make sure you'd be okay, Axe..." he mumbled. He'd never dealt with someone recovering from surgery before, so maybe he went a little overboard with the cautionary measures.

Axel just rolled his eyes, chuckling, "You know, I haven't gone this long without sex since I was your age."

"Jeez, way to make yourself sound old as fuck," the blond laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ancient... Just a dirty old pervert," he purred, leaning down to kiss him.

Roxas couldn't help but feel a little nervous about sleeping with Axel for the first time since they started dating. He knew it would be different than what they did on camera, and he just hoped that he could satisfy Axel off camera as well.

"Rox, are you okay?"

He snapped out of his thoughts and smiled up at Axel, "I'm fine. Just a little nervous, I guess."

"Damn it, could you _be_ any more adorable?" Axel was actually grinning, "Don't be nervous, Roxy... I can't imagine any scenario in which I wouldn't absolutely love this."

And immediately his entire body relaxed and he forgot all of his worries.

...

"Fuck! Did you hear that?" Roxas sat straight up in bed, jarred awake by a loud crashing sound.

Axel rolled over sleepily, "It's probably just a raccoon in the garbage... Go back to bed..."

"It sounded like glass breaking, Axe... I'm gonna go check it out," Roxas grabbed his boxers off the ground and slipped them on, heading downstairs.

None of the windows in the house seemed to be broken, nor did anything seem out of place. Whatever it was must have come from outside. He shoved his bare feet into his boots and put a jacket on, jumping out of his skin as he heard another shattering noise.

"What the fuck...?" he ran out the front door just as his truck's alarm started blaring. He couldn't even fathom the scene before him... He was absolutely speechless.

"Roxas, what the hell is going on?" Axel was by his side shortly after, looking half asleep and confused. "Holy..."

Every single window of Roxas' pickup truck was smashed out, shattered in the driveway. The front window, the side windows, even the rear-view mirrors were destroyed. On top of that, his tires were completely flat.

"Fucking hell... They even took out the head and brakelights..." Axel's eyes widened as he stepped carefully around the truck examining the damage.

"Wh...why...? How? ...Who...?" Roxas couldn't even form words.

Axel was already searching around the house, checking the garage and the bushes for any sign of an intruder. Whoever it was must have bolted like a bat out of hell when Roxas came outside. "I'm calling the police," he told the speechless blond, running inside for his phone.

"My truck..." he felt tears spring to his eyes, but he quickly willed them away. He wasn't about to cry over something so menial, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"They're on their way," Axel ran back out of the house, "Are you okay...?"

He took in a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah... I just don't know who would do something like this..."

"Well they left the Ferrari alone..." Axel looked over his car thoroughly.

"Whoa, Axe... Maybe you should put some clothes on before the police get here," Roxas suddenly realized how naked his boyfriend was. "And I should find some pants..."

They both ran inside and threw some clothes on, knowing it would be a long night of answering pointless questions. But when they returned to the scene, there was a new addition to the damage.

"Fuck..." Axel put a hand over his mouth, "I know you're still here, you mother fucking-!" he shouted, running around the driveway like a mad man looking for whoever did this.

Now, on the side of Roxas' once gorgeous black truck, written in bright red spray paint was the word, "WHORE," in huge capital letters.

Roxas just remained silent until the police showed up, staring at his truck and wondering what he ever did to deserve this. There's no way that Vanitas would have done this. ...Right?

...

 **A/N:** Yeah, yeah... Everyone can yell at me for not writing a lemon. I'm saving it for the end, okay?! ;P I promise, you will get one before the story ends. But this story is farrr from over.

Now who on Earth would be calling poor Roxy a whore? Let me know what your guess is! (Remember, there's a few different people that might not be thrilled with him right now.)

As always, remember to leave another wonderful review! You guys are all just awesome.

Also, check out Triple Threat if you haven't yet. I think you'll like it, it's full of drama as well!

 _Simply Rexene_


	25. Chapter 25

...

 **Chapter Twenty Five**

...

"All right. Thanks, bye," Roxas hung up the phone and sighed heavily, "Insurance is going to cover everything but the paint job, but the shop said it'll be a few weeks to get all the work done. They're going to have to repaint the entire side of the truck..."

Axel tightened his arms around Roxas as they laid on the couch together, "They'll find whatever punk kid did this, Rox..."

"Kid? You still think this was random?" Roxas looked up at him, clearly still incredibly upset, "Whoever it was, they called me a whore... This was a personal attack."

"Do you still think it was Vanitas?"

The blond shook his head, "No... There's no way he'd do something like this. Besides, he was the one cheating on me. I'm not the whore in that situation."

Axel shrugged, "Then I have no idea-"

"Luxord," Roxas shot straight up, nearly bashing Axel in the face with his head. "Why didn't I think of him in the first place?!"

"Shit, Rox, Luxord might be a jerk, but something like this? I don't think he'd go that far..."

But Roxas had his mind set on the idea, "That guy probably hates me for running him off like that. It makes sense, Axel."

"But he hates me too. Why wouldn't he go after my car?"

"Hang on, Axe... Could this have been Saix?" he wondered, "Think about it. He obviously likes you, and he's probably pissed that you blew him off for me."

Axel scoffed, "I've known Saix for 30 years, Rox. He'd never do something like this."

"No... You _knew_ him a billion years ago when you were teenagers. You have no idea how much he could have changed since then," Roxas pointed out, "What if he's secretly psychotic or something?"

"There's no way, Roxas. I still just think it was some punk kid trying to be funny."

"Well I'm not laughing," he settled back into Axel when suddenly his phone started going nuts in his pocket.

It was one of the foster kids he grew up with, Hayner Ferris. Why was he calling? They hadn't talked in years. "...Hello?"

"Dude, what the fuck is going on? Do you need help or something?"

"...Not that I'm aware of. What're you talking about?" Roxas raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I'm talking about your Facebook posts! One, you're going to get yourself banned, and two... When did you become a fucking pornstar?!"

Roxas sat up again and looked over at Axel, "Go get your laptop. I need to see something."

"I mean, what kind of a sick fuck are you, Roxas? You know our foster mom saw that? And Pence and Olette too! You're seriously disturbed."

Axel came back in with his laptop and gave him a confused look, "What's going on?"

"Go on Facebook and pull up my page..." Roxas told him, "And Hayner, I didn't post anything. I don't even know what the hell you're talking about."

"Yeah? What other Roxas Smith is there that looks exactly like you? It's a video, Roxas, and I'm not blind. Nobody needs to see that. God, I've never been so terrified of the autoplay function on Facebook... I might delete my account. And with men too? I didn't even know you were gay!"

The second that he pulled up his Facebook account, both men's jaws dropped. Somebody had gotten one of the scenes from the movie they'd been filming and posted it to his page, which clearly showed him and Axel hardcore fucking. The caption on the video was: "Hashtag new job! I'm gonna be a star!"

"Hayner, I didn't post this. I swear, I would never post anything like this _anywhere_."

"You might not have posted it, but you were still in the video. Don't bother coming to the reunion this year. None of us ever want to see you again," Hayner snapped, promptly hanging up on him.

Roxas dropped his phone and stared at the unedited video of them clearly posted for the world to see.

"Rox, someone shared this on a ton of different pages..." Axel told him, "It's got over five thousand views already..."

He snatched the laptop and tried to log into his account, but his password wouldn't work. Someone had hacked him and locked him out of his own Facebook. "Fuck... Fuck! I can't even delete it!" he shouted, trying to report the video instead.

"Facebook has deleted it a few times already, but it keeps popping up," Axel sighed, "If you type your name into Google, the video has already made it to numerous different websites..."

Roxas felt like curling up into a ball and dying when he heard the familiar chime of a Facebook notification.

"Rox... Did you maybe used to send Vanitas some pictures? Like... Naked ones?" Axel was staring at his phone in shock.

The blond snatched it from him. Filling the screen was an old selfie that he'd sent only to Vanitas where he was completely naked and in some ridiculous looking "sexy" pose. The caption on the picture read: "Ready for a good time tonight. ;D"

"It has to be Van... He was the only one who had that picture..." Roxas felt numb inside. He would never, _ever_ post something like that on social media.

"Does your phone back up to your computer?" Axel wondered.

Roxas thought for a minute, "Yeah, but-"

Axel raised an eyebrow, "I know for a fact that you don't lock your account. If someone went on your computer they could have changed all of your passwords without even trying too hard."

"But who would have had access to my laptop?"

"I don't know, Rox... You leave that thing out all the time! You had it at work, at the hospital, at home with Vanitas..."

"So basically it could have been anyone," Roxas grumbled, " _Fuck._ My foster mom saw that..."

Axel sighed as his phone chimed again, "Fuck, Rox... How many pictures have you sent him?"

"It was something we did when he was on tour!" he defended himself, "How many did they post?!"

"At least twenty..." he mumbled, scanning through them, "Damn, you know exactly what angles look good for you..."

Roxas snatched his phone and tossed it aside, glaring at him, "Stop staring at them and help me! How can we get these taken down?!"

"It's the internet, Rox... We can't."

"I'm calling the police again..." he sighed, "Someone is attacking me. This is absolute bullshit."

Axel shook his head, "They're not going to be able to do anything, Rox. They're just gonna tell us we're shit out of luck like they did last night."

"They said they'd try to find the guy..."

"There was no evidence, Roxas! They have no leads! We're fucked."

He huffed, " _We_ aren't anything, Axel. _I'm_ fucked, and I think I know who's responsible."

"Saix wouldn't do something like this, Roxas..."

"Well we're going to find out for sure. C'mon, you're driving us to the hospital right now to see him."

Axel grabbed his arm, "This is ridiculous, Rox. We'll just give his name to the police and they can question him. There's no reason to be starting shit with him."

"That's easy for you to say when we're not talking about _your_ life. Nobody is coming after you."

"Think about it for a second, Roxas, how could he have even gotten that video?"

The blond scowled, "I don't know! Xigbar'll do anything for a blowjob! Maybe we should ask _him_ which psychopath decided to do this!"

"You need to calm down. You're getting mad at me for no reason. I obviously didn't have anything to do with this, so quit attacking me."

Roxas exhaled slowly and sat back down on the couch, "I'm sorry... I just don't understand what I did to deserve this..."

Axel pulled him into his arms, pressing a kiss against his forehead, "We'll figure it out, babe... I promise, I'm not going to rest until we find out who's doing this and why. ...And then I'm going to beat the living shit out of them."

"Nooo... I don't want you to go to jail," Roxas pouted, "Let me beat the shit out of him instead."

"But then _you'd_ be in jail, and I wouldn't be able to do this," Axel leaned in and kissed him softly.

Roxas chuckled, "So then... We both beat him up, go to jail together and get all buff and hardened. Ooh, we could get matching neck tattoos and be prison wives!"

"Sounds good, baby," Axel laughed, snuggling against his boyfriend.

Whatever was happening, Roxas had a feeling that this was only the beginning. But one thing had him really worried... Something that if Axel found out, he'd likely run the other direction. If his attacker had that information, he was thoroughly ruined.

...

 **A/N:** All right, we're taking bets now. What could this huge piece of information be that might very well send Axel running for the hills?

Everyone seems to think it's either Saix or Luxord. Taking all final guesses!

Thanks for reviewing! I'm enjoying this story ever so much. :3

 _Simply Rexene_


	26. Chapter 26

**WARNING:** This chapter contains scenes involving self-harm and suicide. If this makes you uncomfortable, please don't read it.

...

 **Chapter Twenty Six**

...

" _But... I don't understand..."_

" _Namine, it's nothing against you or anything. I'm just not interested," Roxas repeated himself, wishing that she would put her clothes on and go home._

 _The blonde girl sitting on his bed in lingerie huffed, "I just don't get it! You're a sixteen year old boy! Why wouldn't you want me? Am I not pretty enough? Is it Olette?"_

" _One, Olette is technically my sister... Two, you're gorgeous. You're just... Not my type," he tried to explain it to her, but she was very persistent._

" _Just kiss me... Kiss me, and then tell me that you don't want to be with me," she grabbed for him, but he backed away quickly. "Roxas!"_

 _He was starting to get frustrated. Maybe it was every other sixteen year old's dream to come home and find a blonde girl in their bed throwing herself at him, but it wasn't exactly doing it for him. "Namine, you need to get dressed and go home. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to date you. And you shouldn't be offering me anything to try and convince me otherwise."_

" _Why?! What did I do wrong?!"_

 _Why did he always seem to attract unstable people? "I'm gay, Namine. I've been secretly dating Vanitas for the past couple months. Do you understand now?"_

" _What? No, there's no way... You're not gay!"_

 _Roxas shrugged, "Hate to break it to you, but I'm definitely gay. No doubt about it."_

" _Just kiss me, Roxy..." she ran to him and flung her arms around his neck, pushing herself up onto her toes to try and reach his lips. "I can make you see that you're wrong!"_

 _He shoved her away, "Damn it, Namine! Just accept that I don't want you and go the fuck home!"_

 _She squeaked as if he'd hit her, tears welling up in her eyes and making him feel like a total jackass. "This whole time you just wanted to humiliate me! Why would you string me along if you never liked me?!"_

" _I wasn't stringing you along! I was treating you like a friend! For God's sake, Namine, you're fucking insane!"_

" _I'm in love with you, Roxas! Can't you see that? All I want is for you to love me back!"_

" _We're sixteen fucking years old, Namine! I'm not in love with anybody, and you shouldn't be either! Now I'm not going to tell you again, you need to leave!" Roxas hated how blunt he had to be with her, but he didn't know what else to do._

 _She crossed the room again quickly, this time without any warning, grabbing him by the face and kissing him deeply. He struggled against her grip, but he didn't want to hurt her. "See? You like it, right?"_

 _He grabbed her wrists and held them inbetween them, trying to create a barrier that she couldn't break through, "No, Namine. I didn't like it."_

" _I'll sleep with you," she offered, "Just give me a chance. I can make you feel good..."_

" _You know what makes me feel good? Vanitas. A man," he let go of her wrists and walked away from her, "Now if you don't get out of here, I'm gonna get my foster mom to throw you out. We've probably already woken up most of the family."_

 _She tried to grab onto him again, but he'd had it. In a flash of rage and frustration, he turned around and backhanded her across the face-harder than he'd like to admit._

 _She yelped and fell backwards, immediately becoming a sobbing mess. "Aww, shit, Namine... I'm sorry..." he immediately bent down to help her up, but she scooted away from him and curled up into a ball. "Namine... C'mon..."_

" _Why does everybody hate me?" she sobbed, "I never made any friends at my old school, and now everyone here hates me too..."_

" _I don't hate you, Namine... I just don't like you romantically. I'd love to have you as a friend."_

 _She swatted him away as he reached for her again, "Leave me alone! I'm just some worthless slut anyways! I'm just insane, right?!"_

" _Namine, this is ridiculous... Let me take you home..."_

" _No!" she screamed, kicking at him, "Don't touch me!"_

 _His foster mother was at the door now, which he ran over and locked, "Roxas, what's going on in there? Do you have a girl over?!"_

" _We're fine, mom! It's one of Olette's friends!"_

" _I hear crying and screaming! Let me in!"_

 _Roxas was too preoccupied with his mom to notice Namine rifling through his desk now. "We're fine! We'll quiet down!"_

" _Let me in, Roxas! What did you do to that poor girl?!"_

" _I didn't do any-!" he was cut off by the sickening sound of flesh being cut open._

 _Namine had just plunged a pair of scissors all the way through her wrist and then pulled them out, blood starting to rush from the wound. "Now nobody needs to hate me," she whispered, slumping down onto the ground._

" _Shit... Shit! Mom! Call 9-1-1!" he shouted, unlocking the door before running over and pulling Namine into his arms, grabbing her wrist and trying to keep pressure on it. Blood pooled over his fingers, continuing to run onto the wood floor in a river of red._

 _All he could remember after that was his mom running around the house screaming into the phone and Hayner asking him over and over what had happened._

 _Namine died in his arms that night._

...

Roxas shot up straight in bed, panting and sweating as his nightmare stayed fresh in his mind. It'd been a long time since he had that dream... He thought he'd repressed those memories years ago.

But whoever was tormenting him seemed to have access to his laptop-including the story he'd written about that night. It was supposed to be some kind of therapy; write everything down and you'll be able to overcome it. Right. He was sure that the story was going to be the next thing leaked to God knows who.

He knew that it would haunt him forever. That poor girl had died because he was an asshole and couldn't see how unstable she was. The second he saw it turning into a shit show, he should have just grabbed Hayner and Olette and had them help him get through to her.

Axel would hate him if he ever found out about Namine... What kind of asshole drives a girl to kill herself like that? Vanitas could barely look at him for months after it happened. Hayner, Pence and Olette didn't talk to him for over a year. He thought that when Van and him moved across the country for college, it would finally stop following him everywhere he went, but apparently he was wrong.

"Roxas... Are you okay?" Axel turned over and looked up at him sleepily.

"I'm fine, Axe. I just can't stop worrying about this guy."

Axel sat up a little and wrapped an arm around him, "Rox... You've been screaming the name 'Namine' in your sleep for the past three nights. Who is she?"

"Nobody... It's just a nightmare I have," Roxas lied, his body starting to tremble a little.

"That you've been having since this guy stole the files on your laptop? What does he have on you?"

Roxas shook his head, "No... You'll hate me..."

"If whoever is doing this has the information, I'm going to find out eventually. You really think he'd just keep it to himself? Why don't you tell me now and take away his satisfaction?"

"Why don't we just go find Saix and beat the shit out of him? I _know_ it's him, Axel. It has to be him."

Axel turned on the lights, narrowing his tired eyes on his boyfriend, "Tell me about Namine. I promise, nothing is going to make me hate you. That could never, ever happen."

"Okay... Let me get my computer. But once you read this, you need to give me a chance to explain before you panic and run away," Roxas crawled off the bed and grabbed his laptop, scrolling through a bunch of old, hidden folders until he found the file: " "

The redhead took his computer and started to read everything... Everything from how Roxas and Namine met, to how she died in his arms, to how he found out later that she had a delusional disorder that made her believe things that had never happened or weren't true. She believed so fervently that Roxas loved her that the rejection he faced her with drove her to kill herself.

Roxas sat down on the other end of the bed, watching Axel's facial expressions change from confused to shocked to horrified. His heart ached as he knew what was about to happen... Axel would throw him out, and he'd be homeless and alone.

"Rox..." Axel's voice choked up in his throat as he set the laptop aside, "All of this is true...?"

"Yes... When I was sixteen, I effectively murdered a girl who was in love with me," he whispered, pulling his knees up to his chest and waiting for Axel to start yelling.

But what he felt instead was a pair of arms wrapping around him, "Roxas, you didn't murder anybody... She did it to herself..."

"She was mentally delusional and all I did was make her feel worthless... I hit her, for God's sake... I might as well have stabbed her myself..." Roxas felt tears falling from his eyes now as Axel held him.

"Shh..." Axel tried to soothe him, "Roxas, you didn't know any better... You were a kid, and you couldn't see what was happening until it was too late..."

Roxas' chest heaved as he tried to control his breathing, "You must hate me now... I'm a horrible person..."

"I don't hate you, Roxas. In fact, I love you even more for willingly sharing that with me," he said, pressing a kiss against his boyfriend's cheek. "I do understand why you don't want this getting out, though. You don't deserve to have your past dredged up like this."

The blond sighed, "Can we _please_ just confront Saix about it?"

"No... Not before we talk to Luxord. I still have a feeling that he's behind this," Axel told him, "We'll go pay him a visit at the casino tomorrow. If it really wasn't him... _Then_ we'll go to Saix."

...

 **A/N:** So if you were able to make it through this chapter, you might be hating on me a little for killing Namine. I'm sorry! I like her just as much as everyone else, but she fulfilled her purpose for me.

All right, so I know that this story has turned into a very fast moving ball of drama, and I just want to clarify a couple things because I realized that I was a little lax with the details.

One: Currently, it has been three days since the video was leaked. That happened the day after the truck was vandalized. The truck was vandalized two weeks after Axel and Roxas started dating. Axel and Roxas started dating one week after his surgery. His surgery happened three days after the seizure. All in all, it's been a little over a month since the seizure.

Two: They've now known each other for around four months. Before you say that you can't fall in love in four months, let me counter that. I fell in love with my fiance in like a day and a half, and we're still together two years later and about to get married.

Three: I'm sorry that I didn't add in enough detail to keep this all sorted out in the first place. My brain moves a little faster than my hands can type, so I tend to skip through a bunch of stuff because I'm afraid I'll forget the new idea I just had. And I tend to get a little excited when I come up with my plot twists and just shove them into the story before I have a chance to really build up to them.

So now that you know all of my flaws as a writer, let me just say that I'm sooooooo eternally grateful for all of my faithful viewers. You guys are amazing, and you're what keeps me writing.

To everyone who sends me a review on every chapter, thank you. You have no idea what it means to me, and I hope you keep on reviewing until the end!

That's right... It's nowhere near over yet.

See you next time!

 _Simply Rexene_


	27. Chapter 27

...

 **Chapter Twenty Seven**

...

"Hey Saix! You wanna meet up for a drink tonight? ...No, Roxas won't be there. No, I didn't tell him. I don't need his permission to grab drinks with a friend. Meet me at Sal's tonight? Awesome," Axel hung up the phone and turned to see Roxas stalking back and forth in the living room like a caged animal. "It's all set up, babe."

"Good," he grit out through clenched teeth, "We're meeting Luxord at the casino in thirty, so we'd better get going."

Axel nodded and fixed his suit jacket, tying his death-hawk back into more of a low ponytail to try and look 'classy.' "Does he know I'm coming?"

"No clue. He thinks I'm about to beg him to fuck me again. Self centered asshole..."

"C'mere and let me fix your tie. It's a hot mess," Axel yanked him over and straightened the boy's tie out. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"

Roxas was already wrapping his knuckles with medical tape in anticipation of bloodying them, "I'm fucking sure. If that story about Namine gets out..."

"Rox, maybe you shouldn't attack him in public... You're gonna get yourself arrested."

"He won't press charges. I've got the rape card to play, and I know he has footage of it happening," Roxas straightened out his suit jacket and shoved his feet into his dress shoes. "I feel like a mobster... All dressed up and ready to fight."

Axel rolled his eyes, wishing the casino didn't have a dress code. "I'll be right around the corner if you need me. But I can't really afford to have him hit me, so..."

"No, baby, you protect yourself. I don't want anything to happen with your brain. Let me handle it," Roxas told him, heading out to the Ferrari. "Let's go nail the bastard."

Axel climbed into the driver's seat and took of towards the casino, but he was incredibly worried about Roxas. The kid had no idea what he was about to get himself into.

...

"I knew you'd be back," the grin on Luxord's face made Roxas want to punch him right then and there.

"Of course I am... I miss you, Lux," Roxas pouted up at him cutely, "Can we go somewhere more private and just talk for a minute?"

The taller blond smiled, "Sure thing, love. Follow me."

Roxas nearly gagged at the pet name, but followed him through the casino into some kind of private room. He knew Axel would be following them pretty closely, but damn was he good at hiding.

"They use this room for private affairs... I'm one of their best customers, so they let me use it when it's not booked," Luxord invited him to sit beside him on the couch.

But Roxas held his stance in the center of the room, "I know it was you, Luxord. Vandalism, really? Personal attacks on the internet?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" the elder looked up at him in surprise, "Who got vandalized?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Luxord. You smashed my truck to hell and then leaked porn of me all over Facebook. How'd you get Xigbar to give you the video anyways?"

Luxord just stared at him, "What the fuck is Facebook? And you're doing pornos now? Damn... I bet that's hot."

" _Fuck_ ," Roxas growled, quickly realizing that Luxord truly had no clue what was happening. "I seriously wanted an excuse to punch you again..."

"Is that what this is all about? I'll let you hit me if you want, I could be down for that. Just no bruises this time, okay?"

Roxas was pacing the room again, trying to ignore him. "So it had to have been Saix..."

"Can you link me to that video? It sounds hot."

"Shut up!" Roxas shouted, turning on him wildly.

Luxord raised an eyebrow and chuckled a little, "You're losing your shit, blondie."

"It's not funny! Somebody has been terrorizing me, and I was really hoping it was you. Axel's gonna be heartbroken when he finds out it was his childhood friend the whole time."

"I feel like this no longer involves me, sooo... If we aren't gonna fuck, I'm leaving," Luxord stood up, brushing past him as he left the room.

Roxas groaned in frustration as Axel slipped into the room, "So... It wasn't him?"

"Of course not..."

"So then...?"

"It's gotta be Saix. I know you didn't want it to be true, Axel, but-"

"It still might not be him! We don't know yet! What if Luxord was lying? He's really fucking good at lying, Roxas..."

The blond sighed, "It's not Luxord. He had no idea what I was talking about."

"Fine... We'll meet him tonight at the bar, then. Let's go home and change."

Roxas shoved him off as Axel tried to wrap an arm around him. He was starting to get pissed at his boyfriend, because he just didn't seem to be taking this seriously. He wouldn't even allow Roxas to be pissed about everything. He was just making him feel stupid, like he was overreacting.

...

Axel sighed heavily as Roxas pushed him away again. He'd fucked up somewhere along the way with this whole mess, but he couldn't pinpoint where exactly. "Rox, why are you mad at me?"

"Because every time I start to get upset, you shut me down and make me stifle it. I need to vent. I need to rage. All the time I just feel like there's bile building up in my body, slowly poisoning me because I can't let it out around you. Van used to let me vent! Why can't you?!"

The redhead blinked a few times, "I wasn't trying to 'stifle' you, Roxas. I just don't think it's healthy to run around the house screaming like a madman."

"It's not healthy to supress all that shit either!" Roxas shouted, nearly punching a hole through the wall. "Every day I just get more angry about this shit, and until we find out who's behind it for sure, I'm not going to be able to calm down!"

"All right, Roxas. I understand. We're going to confront Saix tonight, and then we'll know and we can let the police handle it. Okay?"

"You're doing it again! I just want to be upset for awh-"

Roxas was stopped short as Axel's hand connected with his face.

"You... You slapped me!" he exclaimed, holding a hand to his stinging cheek.

"Because you're losing it, Roxas. You need to calm the fuck down and return to reality."

Before he realized what he was doing, Roxas reached up and slapped his boyfriend straight across the jaw, disregarding the fact that he'd just had brain surgery.

Axel yelped and looked down at him with wide eyes, "Rox..."

"You started it," he sneered, feeling no remorse for his actions.

"And I'm ending it!" Axel yelled, reaching down and grabbing him around the waist. He hefted the smaller boy over his shoulder and started carrying him up to their bedroom. "I'm sick to death of your fucking attitude, Roxas. You wanna let out some frustration? Fine."

Roxas squeaked as he was thrown down on their bed in a heap with no care taken. "What the fuck, Axel?!"

The redhead started to undress, letting his suit pants fall around his ankles as he unbuttoned his jacket. "It's obvious that you need an outlet, so I'm giving you one."

"What the hell are you talking about? My outlet is going to be smashing Saix's face into his skull!"

"Now see, I can't let you do that," Axel continued to undress until he was fully naked before his boyfriend, "You could go to jail. You could get hurt yourself. You need to go into this rationally, and the only way to do that is to blow off all this steam first. So you're going to fuck me."

"Fuck you? What?" Roxas sat up in their bed, obviously confused, "Axel, you don't _get_ fucked. You do the fucking."

"Not today. Today, you're in charge. Bite me, hit me, pull my hair. I don't care what you do, just get this shit out of your system so you don't murder him tonight."

Roxas huffed a little, "I can't do that, Axel..."

The older man grabbed him by his shirt collar and level his eyes on him, "Listen to me, and listen to me good. You wanna know how I control all of the rage inside me? I take it out on you in the bedroom. You seriously think I'm not just as pissed off about all of this? Now fuck me. And make it count."

As he was released from Axel's grip, Roxas felt his blood pressure rising again. "Fine. Lie down," he told him, standing up to undress himself.

Axel did as he was told obediently, letting Roxas take control for the first time. Hopefully this would be the outlet that Roxas needed. And hopefully he wouldn't take it too far...

"How do you want me?" Axel asked, "I recommend hands and knees if you really wanna take out some frustration."

" _Fine. Do that_ ," he grit his teeth, crawling onto the bed behind him.

Axel got himself into position and turned to look over his shoulder, "Don't hold back, but just be careful around my incision. If you're gonna grab my hair, grab it from the other side."

"Your sides are shaved down, dumbass," Roxas remarked, positioning himself behind Axel and getting ready. He actually couldn't think of any instance where he'd ever been the one doing the fucking before. Van always told him that they'd try it, but they never actually did.

It was definitely a powertrip to see him on his hands and knees. Roxas kind of loved it. "You gonna fuck me, or just stare at me?" Axel snapped, growing impatient.

"Shut up! I've never done this before!" he barked, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"Wait, hang on..." Axel turned over, staring up at his boyfriend, "You've never fucked someone before?"

Roxas sat back on his knees, shrugging, "Well... No? I've only ever dated Van and Luxord and you, and you're all tops. I've never really had the chance to try before."

"Have you slept with a girl before?"

"...No?"

Axel stared at him for a long moment, absolutely dumbfounded. "You've never penetrated someone...? Ever?"

"I guess not..."

"No wonder you're so frustrated and full of rage! Roxas, you _need_ to fuck me. Like... Now. But get the lube. I haven't done this in awhile."

Roxas huffed a little, "Well maybe I wanna do it the right way my first time. Turn over."

Axel smiled and turned onto his back, watching Roxas rifle through their bedstand. "You've already calmed down so much..."

"Seeing you in that position helped... Just seeing that you were willing to let me do that."

"I get how you're feeling, Roxas. I'm sorry I tried to keep you from expressing yourself. I guess I've never known what it was like not to have that outlet."

Roxas frowned, "I shouldn't have hit you... You're right, I was losing it. I'm sorry."

"Hush, Rox. Don't worry about it anymore. Now, come on. We gotta meet Saix soon and now I've got a boner you need to take care of."

The blond chuckled, "You're ridiculous."

"And you're nervous. I can tell. Just go slow, and don't worry if you cum fast. It's definitely a different experience than being fucked. You'll have to get used to it."

Roxas inhaled deeply, pressing his lubed up cock against Axel's hole. "You ready?"

"Rox, I've taken a dick before. Just do it," Axel laughed, pulling him down for a kiss.

The younger man returned the kiss, deciding to just go for it. He slid into him in one quick motion, burying himself up to the hilt all at once. ...Bad idea. "Oh fuck... _Fuck_!"

"Take a second to get used to it, baby," Axel told him, cringing just a little. He hadn't really been expecting Roxas to be so... Big?

"You look like you're in pain. Are you hurting?"

Axel shook his head, "No, honey, I'm fine... You do whatever you want."

"It feels really, really good..."

"I know, Roxy. Take your time," he smiled up at him.

...

Roxas only lasted about five minutes inside Axel, but it was the best five minutes of his life. ...Okay, maybe not, but it was in the top ten.

"Fuck, Axel... That was..."

"Yeah..." he chuckled, panting heavily as he glanced down at the mess he'd made in between them. "Damn... I forgot how good that feels..."

Roxas smiled at him, "We'll have to do that more often..."

"If it keeps you sane we can do it every day," Axel laughed, grabbing a box of tissues from the bedside table.

"We've got to leave soon... We should probably shower first."

That caught his attention, "Yeah? We probably only have time for one of us to shower..."

"Well then I guess we'll just have to share," Roxas crawled off him, giving him a sly grin. "C'mon."

Axel was glad that Roxas was back to his normal self again. All of that anger he was harboring was just no good for him. Maybe now he wouldn't totally murder Saix for what he'd done.

Especially because while they'd been busy experimenting with new things, Saix had been busy releasing the video of Luxord raping Roxas all over the internet. The video that very plainly showed how much Roxas was begging for it. The video that would probably ruin their relationship for good.

Apparently Luxord had made a deal with the devil, and now Saix had a partner in crime.

...

 **A/N:** Wow, long chapter! I dunno where that came from! Anyways... Who's excited for a bit of an akuroku lemon?! Super fun. :3 I know I can't wait to write about their encounter with Saix. Apparently it'd been a very bad idea to let Luxord know what was happening.

Lemme know what you think in a review! I love you guys. :3

See ya!

 _Simply Rexene_


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N:** It's come to my attention, thankfully, that I made a little error in my story telling! Apparently in Chapter 22, I mentioned Namine as someone Ventus had been staying with. Obviously I killed her off, soooo... I went back and changed the girl Ventus was with to Alice. It wasn't an important plot device anyways. I'd totally forgotten that I mentioned Namine prior to the suicide chapter! Sorry all. Hope that relieves any confusion for you.

...

 **Chapter Twenty Eight**

...

Axel's eyes scanned his boyfriend slowly as Roxas emerged from the bathroom in complete disguise. His usually unruly blond hair had been slicked back with an ungodly amount of gel and pomade into a classic pompadour style and he'd put on a pair of thick, black, plastic-rimmed glasses with non-prescription, fake lenses. Normally quite casual in style, his clothing had been replaced now with a pair of purple skinny jeans and a white button-down with the sleeves rolled up and a purple patterned bowtie around his neck. Over the white shirt was a grey vest, unbuttoned, and on his feet were a pair of classic white Keds. Finally, his face was again starting to grow beard scruff, just enough to give a stubbly appearance. Overall, you'd never know it was Roxas just by looking at him.

"Damn, babe... You look like a fucking hipster," Axel's lips curled into a small smirk as he approached him, wrapping his long arms around the kid's waist and pulling him into a kiss.

"I look and feel like a jackass," he chuckled, stepping out of Axel's grasp and checking himself out in the floor-length mirror on the wall of the bedroom. "But I don't think Saix will recognize me, at least."

The taller redhead kept his eyes trained on him, "Hell, I don't even think _I'd_ recognize you walking down the street in that."

"I miss wearing all black," Roxas pouted slightly, grateful that he only had to dress like a douchebag for one night.

"You do look good in black... But you'd look good in anything," Axel reminded him, stalking up behind him and wrapping the boy back into his arms. "What's your codename?"

Roxas thought for a minute, "Uhm... I hadn't thought about it. I'm not really going to be talking to anyone. I'll just be listening to your conversation."

"Yeah, but codenames are sexy..." the elder purred, his hot breath hitting Roxas' ear.

"Fine. Call me ...August. That sounds like a douchey hipster name," he suggested, "Plus, it's my favorite month out of the year."

Axel contemplated the name, his grin growing in size, "Mm... I like that."

"How are you still horny?" the blond wondered, shrugging away from him again to dig through one of the many unpacked boxes that they'd moved over from the mobile home.

"I'm always horny around you... Plus, I'm all backed up. I went from having sex literally all day, every day to being an invalid that can't even work yet."

Roxas turned to look at him, knitting his brow in confusion, "I thought you were cleared to go back to work."

"Xigbar told me I can't come back until the scar has faded some more... Apparently it's off-putting," he shrugged, letting out a bored sigh, "I guess once my hair grows back in I'll be okay."

"I kinda like the shaved sides," Roxas told him, turning his attention back to his search, "I'm glad you've been keeping them shaved down, actually."

The death-hawked man lifted an eyebrow, "Really? I've just been shaving them because every time the hair starts to grow back in, my incision itches like hell."

"I love it," he smiled, walking up to his boyfriend and plopping a small device into his hand.

"What's this?" Axel wondered, examining the older technology.

Roxas laughed, "It's a voice recorder, dummy. If we're going to turn him in to the police, we'll need hard evidence that he did it. Put it in your coat pocket and record everything he says."

"Damn, you really come prepared, don't you?"

"Axel, I'm sick of this guy fucking with my life. Don't you wanna get back to normal?" the smaller man sat down next to him on the bed, staring up at him beneath the thick black glasses.

He nodded in agreement, "No, you're right... I just still can't believe that Saix would do something like this. And over me. I mean, I'm nothing special."

"Axel, you're incredibly special... If there was one person for him to obsess creepily over, it's no surprise to me that he chose you," blue eyes sparkled with each word.

"How did I ever get so lucky to have you love me?" Axel asked him genuinely.

He flashed the elder man a pearly white smile, feeling his cheeks heat up a little, "I'm the lucky one, to have completely stumbled upon somebody so wonderful..."

Axel's shining emerald eyes burned down into those baby blues as he resisted the urge to throw him down on the bed and ravage him all over again, "Mm... You're perfect. But we should get going, Saix is meeting me in twenty minutes."

"We should just move underground where we'll never have to worry about anyone else ever again," Roxas pouted as he was returned to his feet, not looking forward to this at all.

"Get a move on, Roxy. I promise I'll fuck you tonight, okay?"

That put a smile on the younger's face, "Ooh, okay! Let's go."

...

Roxas sat at the bar in the corner, trying to keep a low profile. He'd been to Sal's a few times with Axel and nobody seemed to recognize him tonight, which was a good sign.

His heart sped up as Saix walked in and spotted Axel sitting at the middle of the bar, but he didn't even give Roxas a passing glance as he sat down beside the redhead.

"Saix, hey!" Axel gave him a generic greeting, and Roxas could faintly see him reach into his pocket to click the recorder on.

"I was kind of surprised when you called me, Axe. You made it pretty clear who you chose," Saix was blunt and to the point, waving the bartender over to him. "I need a whiskey on the rocks, sweetheart. Make it a double, and don't make me wait."

Axel rolled his eyes at the way he talked to her, ordering a drink for himself as well. He'd need it to get through this, "Jack and Coke, love. Take your time," he told her, throwing her an apologetic look before turning his attention back to the pissed off looking blunette. "I mean, I figured we'd still be friends at least. We've known each other forever, and you want to throw it all away because I won't go on a date with you?"

"I just can't believe you, Axel. How could you choose an asshole like Roxas over a guy like me? I'm a surgeon, for God's sake! I helped operate on your brain! What can that guy offer you? He's an intern, Axel. He gets pornstars coffee for a living."

I took all he had not to smack the smug look off of Saix's face. " _You're_ an intern, jackass. And why the hell are you being such a douchebag right now? All I wanted to do was reconnect with an old friend, not unleash the jealous bitch that lives deep inside you."

The bartender brought their drinks over and Axel took a heavy gulp of his, wishing that the alcohol would hurry up and take effect as Saix started talking again, "I was in love with you, Axel. As in love as a teenager could be, at least. When I saw you again, it stirred up all of those feelings I used to have... And then you turned out to be such an amazing guy that I fell for you all over again. You've got a terribly magnetic charisma about you. I'm allowed to be upset that you threw me aside before even giving me a chance."

"Upset enough to vandalize Roxas' truck? Or maybe upset enough to leak a bunch of photos of him all over Facebook," Axel deadpanned, staring Saix straight in the eyes.

He expected there to be some shock in the golden-brown eyes of the man before him, but instead they narrowed on him in a vicious smirk, "So you finally figured it out..."

"How could you do something so... So horrifying?!" Axel exclaimed, nearly knocking his drink off the bar as he flailed his arms in anger.

"Calm down, Axel, you're going to make a scene..." Saix seemed almost disinterested in the conversation. "Besides, your little fucktoy made it almost too easy to mess with him. He just about dryhumps that truck of his every time he sees it, and he just kept leaving his laptop unattended in your room while you were asleep... All I had to do was bring in a flashdrive and I had all the access I needed to his life."

Axel grit his teeth, trying hard not to look over at Roxas, who he was sure was paying close attention. "I should kick your fucking ass, Saix..."

"You won't. I know you won't. Because I know the true story about your parents and what you did to them," Saix spoke calmly and evenly, almost like a serial killer would.

"You don't have any proof. Nobody would ever believe you," Axel hissed, lowering his voice so that the blond couldn't hear. "Especially not Roxas."

Saix laughed sadistically, "You two are a fucked up couple, Axe... He lets a girl kill herself in his bedroom, and you-"

"Stop," Axel cut him off, "I know what I did, and I've made peace with my inner demons. So has he. There's no reason to send that story out."

"You know what really surprised me? The weird blond guy that hunted me down yesterday and gave me a sex tape of him fucking your boyfriend there. I didn't expect that one. Told me Roxas accused him of ruining his life and said that if I was going to do it, I needed to go all in."

"Luxord..." the word was like poison on his tongue, "That asshole!"

Saix just chuckled, "You're lucky too. I'd literally been seconds away from sending that story out on every major social network when he knocked on my door. But I decided to wait until tonight for that."

"You can't put out that story, Saix... It'll ruin him."

"Have sex with me."

The blatancy of the statement threw Axel for a loop and he just stared at the man before him with a gaping mouth, " _What_?!"

"If you have sex with me, I won't release the story."

"You're a sadist..." Axel muttered, unable to believe what he was hearing, "I'm not having sex with you. You can't blackmail me into cheating."

Saix had just opened his mouth to reply when a flash of white, purple and blond came out of nowhere and threw a fist right into his face. The blunette realed back against the bar, slipping off of the barstool and onto his feet just as Roxas threw another punch that connected with his jaw that time.

The smaller of the two couldn't stop himself. Not only was the asshole trying to destroy _his_ life, but now he was going after the one thing Roxas loved most in the world-Axel. He grabbed the taller man by the collar and swung again and again, ignoring the shrieks and screams coming from the other people in the bar.

But Saix wasn't giving up without a fight. He quickly threw his weight against the younger man, knocking him on his ass and landing a few blows of his own. Roxas cried out as he felt his nose shatter under the elder's fist, but he was so pumped full of adrenaline that he barely felt any pain.

"Saix, stop!" Axel threw himself into the mix, grabbing Saix's arm in an attempt to stop him. His efforts were fruitless, however, as he just found himself being thrown backwards into the bar.

Roxas wasn't going to let himself be overpowered. Not this time. He used his smaller stature to quickly squirm away from Saix, ignoring the blood gushing from his nose as he regained his composure and kicked Saix straight in the gut with enough force to knock him over. "You can fuck with me all you want, Saix, but you will _not_ fuck with my Axel. Got it memorized?" he used Axel's famous quip as he kicked the man in the ribs one more time as hard as he could, hearing a satisfying snap of bone as he did.

Everything after that was a blur... Roxas vaguely remembering Saix pulling himself to his feet and then punching him in the stomach. He sort of recalled a blinding pain in his side. He definitely knew that Saix had smashed his head against the wall. And then all he remembered after that was being shoved into a police car.

...

 **A/N:** So it finally happened! Saix admitted to everything, and then Roxas beat the shit out of him! Yay! But oohhh, what did Axel do now? Let's find out next time!

 _Simply Rexene_


	29. Chapter 29

...

 **Chapter Twenty Nine**

...

"But you've got to believe me! Axel has the evidence!" Roxas struggled as he was forced into a holding cell at the local police station.

"Sir, we'll review all of the evidence when we have the time, but you assaulted a man in public. We're going to have to lock you up for awhile," the police officer told him, looking like he felt a bit bad for doing it. "We've only got two cells, and we're not putting you and Saix together, so meet your cellmate."

Roxas groaned and turned around only to come face to face with a near mirror-image of himself, "Shit, Ventus... What're you doing in jail? ...And why are you covered in blood?"

"I could ask you the same thing, pretty boy. Why're you dressed like a grade-A douchebag?"

"Of course you're high... Why doesn't that surprise me?" he rolled his eyes, sighing as he sat down against the jailcell bars. The musician was so tweaked out that he probably didn't even know where he was.

Ventus just laughed maniacally, "Seriously, you look like a tool. What gives?"

"I beat the shit out of someone. Happy?" Roxas growled. He hated talking to Ventus when he was high. It was like talking to a brick wall.

"Ooh, feisty... Does he look worse than you do?"

"I hope so..." he mumbled, wiping his nose on the back of his hand, "Can I get some medical care here?!" he shouted at nobody in particular, though the guards didn't seem to care too much that he was bleeding out of his face or that his side was killing him.

Ven smirked, "They don't give two shits about delinquents like us. They won't even let you post bail till morning."

"That brings me back to my earlier question... What are you doing here and why are you covered in blood? Did you get into a fight again?"

"Sort of," he shrugged, his eyelids drooping as he laid back on the bench, "I'm taking a nap, try to bleed quietly."

Roxas scowled at him and slumped back, letting himself lower his guard for a few. If he was stuck here all night, he might as well try to sleep. At least he knew Saix was behind bars as well.

...

"Fuck. _Fuck!_ Roxas, wake up!"

The sudden shaking of his shoulders startled Roxas out of a semi-deep sleep, scaring the shit out of him, "What?!"

"Roxas, did I tell you why I was in here?"

"Christ, Ven, how tweaked are you?!" Roxas shoved him away, "You said you got into a fight!"

Ventus sat back down on the bench, pulling his knees up to his chest and starting to rock back and forth, "N...no... Roxas, that's not what happened..."

"Ven... Tell me what happened. Tell me whose blood this is."

"Vanitas..." the dyed-black boy squeaked, tears rushing to his eyes.

Roxas immediately felt his heart fall through his stomach, " _What happened_?"

"He stopped taking his meds again," Ventus sniffled, painfully sober now that he'd slept off the drugs in his system, "He got really violent with me in bed and I told him to fuck off..."

"Shit..." Roxas sighed, "I should have warned you about that..."

Ven shook his head, "It was fine... I was fine... I took some drugs and tried to forget about it, but then he got pissed at me for that too..."

"Did you two get into a fistfight then? Is he in the other cell?"

"N...no, Rox... I got really mad and I told him that he was fucked up and that I was leaving and he was out of the band and he... he..."

Roxas could've smacked him for hesitating so much, "He what?!"

"I don't even know where he got the gun from, Roxas... He must have had it hidden in the trailer somewhere..."

The blond's heart about stopped as he realized what was coming next, "Ven, what happened...?"

"He fed himself a bullet, Rox... Right in front of me..."

His chest tightened and he started to hyperventilate, stepping away from the sobbing man as he clutched at his chest, "No... No! You're lying! You're still high, and you're making things up!"

"I might have been high at the time, but I know that's what happened. One of the neighbors heard the gunshot and called the cops... They found me sitting on the couch in complete shock covered in his blood and when they saw how strung out I was, they arrested me..."

"But you... You didn't mention it before... When I first got here, you were laughing..." Roxas gasped for air as he tried to collect himself.

Ventus wiped his eyes on his sleeve, "I don't even remember talking to you before, Roxas... I was still in shock. I woke up and it all hit me at once and I saw you sitting over there and..."

"No... Vanitas..." Roxas dropped to his knees as his legs gave out, feeling like his entire world was crashing down around him.

"I'm sorry... I didn't know how to handle him when he stopped taking his meds..." Ventus continued to rock back and forth in the fetal position, his sobriety forcing him to deal with what had happened.

"V...Van..." Roxas could feel his entire body shutting down as a police officer approached the cage.

"Roxas Smith, your friend is here to bail you out," he grunted, opening the cell door and waiting.

But Roxas couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't feel the excruciating pain of his broken ribs as he curled up into a ball on the floor.

Vanitas was dead, and Roxas couldn't figure out how to live in a world without him yet. So he shut down. He stopped.

...

Axel struggled to kick open their bedroom door as he cradeled Roxas in his arms. He could usually pick the small blond up with ease, but he was all dead weight now, his glassy blue eyes staring blankly into nothing.

"Why don't you take a shower, Rox? You're all beat up, it'll feel good..." he suggested, setting the boy down on their bed.

Roxas didn't even blink.

"Okay... You don't need to talk. Just get undressed and I'll run you a bath. Does that sound good?" he asked, getting up and going into their bathroom to warm up the water.

But when he returned, Roxas was in the same position on their bed. He hadn't moved even an inch. Axel wasn't even sure he'd blinked at all since he found out about Vanitas.

"Here, I'll help..." he used a gentle voice as he started to undress him, pulling his shoes and socks off before moving up to remove his vest and white button-down. His fingers fumbled with the buttons, shaking as he tried to keep himself together. "There... Now come on, let's get you to the bath," he said, holding out a hand after completely disrobing the boy.

"You've got to walk, Roxas..." he urged him, "Show me some sign that you're still in there."

But the only response he recieved was the blond turning his glazed over eyes up to give Axel the most devastating, heart-wrenching look he'd ever seen. He was absolutely helpless, and he didn't know how to be a person at the moment.

"Okay... I'll help," Axel assured him, picking Roxas back up and carrying him into the bathroom. He turned off the water faucet and placed the boy into the steaming hot, soapy bath. Roxas cringed a little, but accepted the hot water on his aching muscles as a good thing and didn't fight it.

"Why don't you wash up a little? Get that gel out of your hair?" Axel remained hopeful that his boyfriend would snap out of his fog.

Roxas remained completely unresponsive. Even his mind had started to shut down, trying to shelter him from the fact that somebody he had loved for so, _so_ long was never going to be a part of his life again.

"Okay, baby... I'll do that too," Axel conceded, grabbing the sprayer and wetting down his matted hair. He then moved to gently shampoo it for him, trying not to let himself choke up. He needed to be strong for Roxas...

When Axel had showed up at the police station to bail Roxas out, he'd expected a tazmanian devil sort of reaction where he'd come flying out of the cell all worked up and looking for revenge. When he instead found the boy lying in the fetal position and completely out of it, he'd needed to turn to Ventus for answers. Not that the drug addict was in a much better condition. He was busy bawling his eyes out like a baby.

Eventually he'd gotten the entire story out of not only Ventus, but the police officer standing with them. He had no choice but to carry Roxas out to the car and take him home.

He hadn't had the heart to leave Ventus in jail either, however, which was why he currently had a drug addict showering in the downstairs bathroom while he tried to piece his boyfriend back together. Damn his compulsion to help people...

They would have to worry about Saix later. He could rot in jail for all Axel cared. Right now, he needed to be there for Roxas and help him through this however he could.

"I called Aqua and Terra... They're on their way to come pick me up," Ventus appeared in the doorway of the upstairs bathroom as Axel tried to clean Roxas the best he could manage.

Axel nodded, "You can borrow some of Roxas' clothes... They're in the taller dresser."

"Thanks... And thanks for bailing me out..." Ventus held onto the towel around his waist, his blond starting to show through the fading black dye in his hair.

"You were a fucking mess... I'm pretty sure the police were about to pay _me_ just to get you out of there..." Axel shrugged, lifting Roxas' arm to clean under it.

Ventus leaned against the doorway, "I wish I could have stopped him..."

"I stopped him once. I knocked him out before he could pull the trigger," Axel stated, his voice low and monotone.

"He'd done this before...?"

Axel sighed heavily, "Yeah... Before Rox left him the first time. He shot me in the shoulder."

"Damn it... I never knew about that..."

"Roxas told Aqua. Did she not let you know?"

Ven started to chew on his lip nervously, "I was probably high..."

"Why? How could you do that to yourself?" Axel asked him, turning his eyes up to meet Ven's for a moment.

Ventus just let out a shaky breath, "It's easier than feeling..."

...

 **A/N:** Go ahead. I'm prepared for the hate. *sniffles* Poor Vani...

Remember to review!

 _Simply Rexene_


	30. Chapter 30

...

 **Chapter Thirty**

...

"How's he doing?" Aqua's motherly instincts kicked in immediately as she graced her way into their house. Roxas sat on the couch in sweat pants and a t-shirt, motionless and silent.

"He's just ...unresponsive. He hasn't moved or spoken since I picked him up from the police station," Axel told her, "I don't know what to do... It's been hours."

Aqua knelt down in front of Roxas and snapped her fingers in front of his face a couple times, but he didn't even flinch. "He's totally checked out... Poor guy."

"How do we make him come back?" Axel wondered, kneeling beside her and trying to get him to make eye contact.

"We can't _make_ him. He just needs to process everything," she said, standing up and turning to Ventus, "You ready to go, Ven?"

He shook his head, "No, not really... All of my stuff is at the mobile home and..."

Terra wrapped an arm around Ven's shoulders and started pulling him towards the door, "I'll go in and grab what I can for you, okay?"

"It's... It's awful... Everything is covered in blood..." he muttered as Terra led him out to the car.

Aqua sighed softly and looked over at Axel, "Take care of him, okay? You have to make sure he eats and drinks water, or you're going to have to take him to the hospital."

"Maybe I should just take him to see Aerith..." Axel mumbled to himself, "I've got it, Aqua. Thanks for picking up Ventus."

"I'll send you a check for the bail money when I can, okay? I'm sorry that was left up to you, we had no idea where Ven was."

Axel shook his head, "Don't worry about the money. Put it towards getting the kid back in rehab, okay? There's a good guy in there somewhere, and he deserves a chance."

Aqua's bright blue eyes glistened with tears as she smiled at Axel, "Roxas is a very lucky man to have found you. Don't let him screw it up, okay?"

"Got it," he nodded, his eyes training back onto Roxas. He heard the door click shut and suddenly they were alone.

...

"Come on, Roxas... Open your mouth," Axel sighed in frustration as he poked at the boy's lips with a spoon full of soup. "You gotta eat, babe... You don't want to go to the hospital, do you?"

Roxas reluctantly parted his lips just a little, allowing Axel to feed him. The redhead felt relief wash over him. At least Roxas could hear what he was saying.

"Good... I bet you feel a little better now," Axel smiled softly as he finished the bowl off. "You look tired... I'll get you up to bed."

The stress of Roxas' complete shut down was really starting to wear away at Axel, and he wasn't sure how much more he could take without breaking down himself.

He laid the blond down in their bed, the smaller boy immediately curling up in a ball and finally closing his eyes. Axel covered him with the blankets and went downstairs to make himself some dinner. Not that he could cook... But he'd find something.

"Son of a bitch!" he hissed angrily as he knicked his finger with the knife he was attempting to cut a bagel open with. He stuck the offended digit in his mouth, the iron tang of blood hitting his tongue as he sucked on it softly.

He'd nearly forgotten how sweet and tantalizing blood tasted... How good it felt to run his tongue over a fresh cut.

"No... You stopped this a long time ago, and you're not going to start again," he told himself firmly, finding his eyes fixated on the knife in his hands. "You don't need to do this..."

He continued to slice the bagel open, throwing it in the toaster and tossing the knife in the sink. His heart was starting to pound in his chest as he began pacing back and forth in the kitchen, waiting for the toaster to pop.

"You don't need it... You can resist... You've got to be there for Roxas. He needs you. You can't regress now."

But if he was there for Roxas... Who would be there for him? He had nobody else. The only person left in his life was a total zombie.

He didn't even remember grabbing the knife until he was gliding the blade across his forearm with just enough pressure to break the skin. He shuddered, watching as small pinpricks of blood started rising to the surface. It felt good... Too good. He needed to stop. One and done. No more.

Axel had just pressed the knife to another area on his forearm when the toaster dinged and scared him back to his senses. "Fuck!" he yelped, throwing the knife back into the sink and grabbing a wad of paper towels to clean up the blood. But just before he went to wipe it away, he felt the compulsion to lean down and lick it away instead.

How had he let himself become prey to this again? He hadn't cut since he was in his twenties, and that had landed him in the psych ward nice and quick. Of course... That was only because Xigbar found out. Axel wasn't about to work yet anyways. So... A few shallow cuts wouldn't hurt, right? They'd disappear before his huge incision, at least. And Roxas wouldn't be noticing any time soon...

"No... I can't," he tried to resist. For him, cutting was better than any drug could be. It was an addiction, something he couldn't control. He didn't do it to try to kill himself. He wasn't depressed, he wasn't suicidal. He did it to feel something, and it did feel good.

His hands shook as he spread cream cheese over the bagel, his mind only on one thing; the razor blades he still kept under the bathroom sink.

...

 **A/N:** Short chapter, I know. This story is getting a little dark now, but I promise it'll lighten back up in a few chapters. This is the low point of the story where everything literally falls to shit, so everything from here up to the end is going to be going up!

I am in nooo way condoning cutting at all! I'm simply trying to show Axel's inner struggle with it. It's not any way to deal with your problems, and I hope that none of you struggle with cutting how he does. I used to struggle with it myself, so I'm drawing from my own experiences.

Remember to leave a review! I promise it'll get better from this point. Nobody else is dying or killing themselves.

 _Simply Rexene_


	31. The End

...

 **The End**

...

The blade slipped from between Axel's fingers, falling with a startling clang in the sink and shocking the redhead out of his reverie. He looked down at his forearms and swore silently, realizing that he'd done too much this time. His arms were riddled with shallow cuts, marring the skin to the point where you could hardly see anything beneath them. Sometimes he did little patterns, like small X's and plus signs. Sometimes he just dragged the razor as far as he could from top to bottom, always avoiding the one vein he knew he shouldn't cut.

He took a warm washcloth and draped it over his left arm, hissing a little at the pain but welcoming the heat to soothe his skin. When he switched it to his right arm, he heard the faint sound of Roxas standing up.

The blond was still in a catatonic state, but he'd at the very least been getting up to use the restroom on his own every so often. It had been a week since Vanitas died, and Roxas still hadn't said a word.

Axel panicked, knowing that his boyfriend was heading for the bathroom. He quickly stashed his razor blades back in their little leather case under the sink and yanked the sleeves of his hoodie down over his arms, the fabric tugging across the raised scars and fresh wounds painfully.

"Sorry, Rox, I'll get out of your way..." Axel brushed past him quickly, feeling a drop of blood starting to drip down towards his wrist. He'd gone a little too deep with that last cut, but not enough to really hurt himself.

But Axel's ears perked up as he heard a loud yelp from the bathroom.

"Roxas, are you-?!"

His words were cut off by Roxas storming out of the bathroom and violently yanking Axel's sleeve up. "What the fuck are you doing?!"

It had been so long since he'd heard Roxas' voice that the sudden outburst shocked him into silence. His green eyes lowered slowly to meet the terror-filled blues of his boyfriend, but he didn't know what to say.

" _Answer me_ ," Roxas demanded, pushing up the other sleeve and gasping in horror at the marred flesh. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"W...what?! No!" Axel exclaimed, pulling his arms away, "No, Roxas, I'm not trying to kill myself. I just...I like how it feels."

Roxas lost it, reaching up and smacking Axel across the face as hard as he could manage, "How could you? How the _fuck_ could you do this?!"

Axel squeaked like a kicked puppy as Roxas hit him, his hand flying up to put pressure on his stinging cheek, "Roxas..."

"I can't lose you," Roxas told him, tears springing up in his eyes, "Do you hear me?! I _can't_ lose you, Axel!"

"I'm always careful, Rox... I'm not trying to do any real damage..." his voice was hushed and full of shame.

The blond grabbed his wrist and held his arm up in front of his face for him to see, "You don't see this as damage?! Huh?! Look at what you did to yourself! You think Xigbar is ever going to take you back looking like this?! You just fucked away your career!"

"They'll fade, Rox... He'll hire me back..."

"Look at yourself, Axel. This isn't going away any time soon. You've cut over the same areas multiple times! Your skin is never going to look normal again!" he informed him, his stomach turning at the sight of it. "How could you do this to yourself...?"

Axel could feel his own eyes welling up with tears as he flung his arms around the shorter man and begged for his forgiveness, "I couldn't help it, Roxas... I was so scared without you..."

Roxas moved them to sit down on the edge of the bed, sighing heavily, "This is my fault... I shouldn't have completely shut down on you like I did..."

"You lost somebody very important to you, Roxas. I can't be mad at you for reacting to that..."

"I was ignoring you when you needed help... I should have noticed this a week ago and put a stop to it," he kicked himself inwardly for that.

Axel looked into his eyes, "I'm so glad I have you back... I didn't know what to do without you, Roxas."

"I don't know wht happened to me, Axel. When Ventus told me what happened I just...I couldn't figure out how to live in a world without Vanitas."

"Have you figured it out now?" Axel wondered, his venom-green eyes searching Roxas'.

The blond stared back at him, feeling his heart thumping against his chest, "No... But I'll figure it out as long as I have you in my life."

Axel opened his mouth to say something, but Roxas put a finger over his mouth to shush him.

"Which means," he continued, "That you're going back to therapy with Aerith. I'm calling her today to set up an appointment."

"Fair enough," Axel conceded, knowing that a few sessions with Aerith would do him some good. "But you need to start seeing her too. We'll go at different times, and we don't have to discuss anything you talk about with her, but you need someone to talk to about Vanitas."

Roxas nodded, "Okay... You're right. I'll get us both appointments."

Axel smiled and let out a sigh of relief, "God, Rox, I was so terrified that you were never going to come back to me..."

"I'm back, Axel, and I promise I won't leave you again," he finally allowed himself to smile, "I love you... And I'm sorry."

"I love you too, Roxas," he mumbled, leaning down to steal a kiss from his chapped pink lips.

They were going to be okay.

...

"Hey, I have a question for you, Roxy," Axel looked at his boyfriend across the dinner table, "How did you know I was cutting?"

Roxas narrowed his eyes on the elder, scoffing a little, "You left a blood-soaked washcloth in the bathroom sink."

"Oh... I must have forgotten to hide it..." he mumbled, looking down at his plate shamefully.

"My heart nearly stopped when I saw that, Axel... It brought me back to reality so quick it made the room spin. I just really wish that I could have stopped it before it got this far..."

Axel shook his head, "No... It wasn't your fault. And anyways, I didn't mean to bring the mood back down. I guess I was just curious."

"Have you heard anything about Saix...?" Roxas asked, having almost forgotten about the entire ordeal in his funk.

"Right... Because you attacked him, they decided to mutually drop the charges. So you won't get in trouble for beating him up, and he won't get in trouble for destroying your truck. Basically, he's off scott free," Axel sneered, wishing that the justice system could have actually served a little justice.

Roxas looked up in shock, "Wait, seriously?! He still has that flash drive with all my stuff on it!"

That brought a smirk to the redhead's face, "Actually... Someone broke into his apartment while he was working and stole it... And maybe snapped his computer in half..."

"Good God, I love you," Roxas beamed happily, brightening up quite a bit.

"Anddd I might have also left Luxord a little surprise in his BMW in the form of a rather angry raccoon..."

That had the blond crossing the room and wrapping Axel up in a deep kiss, "Please tell me you hid and got a video of him finding it..."

"Of course I did!" Axel pulled out his phone and found the video he'd taken, glad that Roxas could finally laugh with him about it.

"Holy shit! He's going to need a tetnus shot after that... And maybe a rabies vaccine. Axel, how on Earth did you manage to catch a raccoon?"

He shrugged, "It lives in the back by the garbage cans. I offered it a sandwich and it crawled into a box."

"Ugh... I am so in love with you right now," Roxas purred, giving him another delicious kiss. Axel had really missed that over the past week.

"Well damn, baby. You've seriously turned your mood around. What gives?"

Roxas just smiled at him, "In my fog, I had a lot of time to think... So I thought about what Vanitas would want me to do when he was gone, and being a zombie wasn't it. And then when I saw that you were cutting, I figured it out. Vanitas would want me to help you. To love you. To be happy with you, and to enjoy every moment we have together. He wouldn't want me to put my life on hold just to think about what could have gone differently. Life happened the way it happened, and that's just how it was. I'm always going to miss him... Even just thinking about it makes my heart ache, because he left a permanent hole in my heart when he died... But he was my past. You are my present and you are my future, and I need to focus all of the positive energy that I can on us."

"I think he would be proud of you for figuring that out, Rox," Axel smiled softly, "And it's okay to miss him. I'd be worried if you didn't. But you're right... You can't stop living just because he did."

"Thank you for not running the other way when I freaked out..." Roxas mumbled, blushing slightly.

Axel pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose affectionately, "Thank you for not running the other way when you saw I was cutting."

"About that... How do you feel about finding a better and healthier source of pain to feed your addiction?" Roxas suggested, getting a devious look in his eyes.

The redhead raised an eyebrow, "What're you thinking, Roxy?"

...

Axel stood in front of the tattoo parlour with Roxas and swallowed heavily, "Uhm... Rox? I'm not sure if this is the best idea..."

"C'mon... You'll love it. It's the best addiction ever," he grinned, pulling his boyfriend through the front door. He'd start him out small, of course, but once you get one tattoo? You're done for.

...

 **The END.**

...

 **A/N:** Okay, so I had NO IDEA that this was going to be the last chapter until I came to the end and realized that I was literally all out of material. Done. I honestly don't know where else I could take this one, guys. And it felt like a good place to end. I'd resolved everything, and it just felt like the end to me.

This story was so insanely fun to write, and I actually feel like I might cry seeing it end... You guys have been absolutely and amazingly wonderful through all of the ups and downs of this crazy-ass fic. Thank you to everybody who faved, followed and reviewed.

Don't worry, I'm coming out with more updates to Puppet Master, Freedom and All for One very soon here. Keep an eye out!

Love you! Bye!

 _Simply Rexene_


	32. Epilogue

...

 **Epilogue**

...

"Quit fucking with your tie," Roxas swatted Ven's hands down as he fidgeted nervously.

"I can't help it... I haven't been in a suit since I was a kid," he mumbled, tugging at his collar to loosen it up a little.

Roxas rolled his eyes, slapping his hand again before moving to pin a flower to his lapel, "You just have to make it through the ceremony and then you can take off the tie and jacket, I promise."

"Roxas, why aren't you dressed yet?!" Aqua came bursting through the door of his hotel room in a long blue gown, making a beeline for him.

"Relax, Aqua, I was just trying to get Ventus ready. I've got time," he assured her, chuckling a little. He seemed to be the only one not freaking out about this wedding, and he was one of the damned grooms.

She grabbed his black suit from it's garment back and threw it at him, finding his tie and flower and helping him get dressed, "Do you remember your vows?"

"Of course," he told her, "Why, did he forget his already?"

"No!" she exclaimed suspiciously, "He just needed a little reminder..."

"Right... Shouldn't you be helping him anyways? You're _his_ maid of honor, not mine."

She started to mess with his hair, "What, and leave Ventus to make sure you look good? No, honey. I made sure Axel was one hundred percent ready before I came over here."

"Ventus, leave your tie alone!" Roxas barked, catching the blond fidgeting again out of the corner of his eye.

"You have no idea how grateful I am to Axel that he paid for Ven's rehab... Ever since he got clean he's been back to his old goofy self again," Aqua smiled, glancing over at Ven as he accidentally sprayed his cologne in his face.

Roxas chuckled, "I'm just glad that it brought us all back together again. I had really been missing you guys. I just... I wish Vanitas could be here..."

"We all do, Rox. He hated formal occasions so much, he'd probably be sitting on your bed bitching up a storm right now."

"Yeah..." he tried not to let tears spring to his eyes, "But he'd eventually shut up and behave because deep down he was a really good guy."

Aqua sniffled a little, "Oh now hush... You're going to make my eyeliner run."

"Hey Roxas? Soooo about my best man speech..." Ventus gave them a sheepish look, "I might have forgotten it at home..."

"Oh good Lord, Ven..." Aqua rolled her eyes, "C'mon, I'll help you write something down."

Roxas let them fuss over the speech as he put the finishing touches on his hair in the mirror. He honestly could care less what they said in their speeches as long as they were just there with him.

...

Axel stood at the altar with his hands folded in front of him and his heart racing out of his chest. He wasn't sure how he'd been roped into the more terrifying role of standing there and waiting, but he knew he couldn't take much more of it.

When the organist started to play the music they'd chosen for him to enter on, Axel nearly jumped out of his skin, earning a jab in the side from Aqua, "Calm down..." she whispered, giggling a little at his nerves.

The double doors at the end of the aisle opened and Axel felt his breath hitch up in his throat as he saw Roxas standing there with his arm hooked around Ven's. As the two of them walked down the aisle together, Axel's eyes just stayed locked on Roxas. He couldn't believe that he was about to marry the love of his life. They'd been through so much together, and he'd been waiting so long for this moment.

"You look so sexy..." he whispered as Roxas joined him on the altar, giving him a small smirk.

Roxas blushed softly, "So do you..."

Axel, quite ironically, was dressed in an all white suit. While most men couldn't pull off the outfit, Axel just looked dashing in it.

The ceremony, which Terra officiated, was short and to the point, but beautiful nonetheless. Their vows were mostly drowned out by Aqua sobbing in happiness and squeaking, "It's just so cute!" or "I'm so happy for them!" but to them, that just made the whole experience even better. She was definitely a nutcase, but she was their nutcase and they loved her.

...

"Whoo!" Axel exclaimed as he popped the cork on a bottle of champagne at the reception, pouring them each a glass and raising them in a toast, "We finally did it!"

Roxas, Ventus, Aqua and Terra all raised their glasses and clinked them together, "To Roxas and Axel!"

"God, I can't believe we're really married," Roxas grinned, "It only took us three damned years..."

"Three best years of my life..." Axel muttered, pulling him over for a kiss. "Look how far we've come, Rox... Isn't it amazing? I went from being a pornstar to starring on the most famous soap opera on television, and you went from being the cute intern to directing that very same show!"

He just laughed, "I still miss Xigbar and Riku's death matches in the studio... It's just not the same being on a set where everyone is professional all the time."

"You know I heard that Xion _finally_ divorced Riku to be with Xig? I'm happy for him... Though I still can't figure out how he puts up with her."

"Were you able to get some time off the show to go on a honeymoon?" Aqua asked, sipping on her champagne.

Axel chuckled, "Yeah, Dr. Christian Bartlett is going to be in a coma for a few episodes. We already filmed all the scenes with me laying in the hospital bed. That was actually Roxy's idea."

"Hey, it worked," Roxas smiled, "And now we get to go to Jamaica!"

"God, I miss traveling with the band..." Terra mused, frowning a little, "I wish we could find another vocalist, but nothing seems right without Vanitas."

Ventus shrugged, "I'm kind of liking staying in one place with a steady job. You know I met someone the other day?"

"Oooooohhh, does Ven have a boyfriend?!" they all teased, poking at him.

"It's possible," he grinned, "His name is Zexion... He works at the library."

Terra cocked an eyebrow, "Since when do you go to the library?"

"Well I used to go there to buy coke, but it turns out that they actually have some pretty decent books. And a pretty hot librarian as well," he added, smiling.

Aqua whacked him on the arm, "Why didn't you bring him to the wedding?!"

"Well 'cause I thought it was just the five of us!" he exclaimed, rubbing his arm. Roxas and Axel hadn't wanted anybody else there. The five of them had bonded so much during the past three years and they were the only people they felt like sharing the day with.

"It's fine, we can all meet him when Rox and I get back from Jamaica," Axel said, turning to Aqua and Terra, "Soooo when are you two getting hitched?"

Terra nearly choked on his champagne, looking over at Aqua, "Well, uhm... I suppose this is as good a time as any..."

Aqua tilted her head to the side curiously, "For what?"

The tall brunette stood up and pulled a small box out of his pocket, then knealt down in front of her, "To ask you to be my wife, of course."

The squeal she let out could have broken glass as she quickly nodded her head, "Yes! Yes, of course!"

It'd been a bit of a fight to get to this point, but finally everybody's lives were exactly where they always wanted them to be.

And to think that all of this started on the set of a porno.

...

 **A/N:** Well there you have it, ladies and gents. I wrote an epilogue. I felt like I had to, even though nothing in here should have been super surprising to anybody. Just cute! Some more background to the past three years:

Basically the little group bonded in Van's absence and became a close-knit family. No, Roxas never reconciled with Hayner or his foster mom, but that's okay.

Yes, Saix got what he deserved. He became a surgeon, royally fucked up a surgery and got sued out of house and home by the family. Now he lives with his insufferable mother and works at a burger joint.

Luxord stayed in the porn industry but eventually was arrested for making a sex tape with a minor like a CREEP. He's rotting in jail now.

Axel did become the star of a famous soap opera, and he got Roxas hired on as a director.

Aqua and Terra had been dating the entire time, but never really felt the need to settle down while they were on the road with the band. After Van's death, the band broke up for good and they both got jobs in town and obviously finally got engaged.

Ventus got clean and went to a trade school to become a carpenter. And you already read about Zexion, so... Yay!

I think that's it! Again, thank you for reading. :3 I'm not even sure why I wrote this epilogue, but I really just wanted to see Axel and Roxas get married 'cause they're cute.

Bye bye!

 _Simply Rexene_


End file.
